REPORTS of plans for as many as 15,000 more job cuts in the Post Office on top of the 15,000 announced last week, has done nothing to improve morale among postal workers in Swindon.

The news comes on top of Consignia's decision to close four of its parcels and regional distribution centres, including those in South Marston, where 300 jobs will be lost as part of a drastic restructure plan.

The latest news is also unlikely to please leaders of a number of Swindon businesses who have already met in urgent talks to discuss the implications of the South Marston closures.

Consignia denies it has set down a timetable for further staff cuts but refuses to rule out the possibility of axing thousands more jobs.

The postal group, which is losing £1.5 million a day, said there was more work to be done to achieve its cost reduction target, but said specific numbers and a time scale had not yet been worked out.

The statement came in response to newspaper reports that it planned to axe between 15,000 and 26, 000 more staff as part of its three-year programme to save more than £1 billion.

However, Consignia insisted it had not yet worked out details of how many jobs would go or when, but agreed that it was likely to be thousands.

"We are reviewing all aspects of our business and have already unveiled the first stage of a three-year renewal programme to cut costs by more than £1.2 billion and are focused on delivering that," a spokesman said.

"There's more work to be done in the future as we agree specific plans.

"At this stage we have no details of job numbers involved or the precise time scale for this."

Weekend newspapers predicted the next round of cuts would come from the Royal Mail and Post Office arms of the business, though they added that the majority of reductions were likely to be achieved through natural turnover..

The reports come a week after the group announced that it was cutting 15, 000 jobs and scaling down its loss-making Parcelforce Worldwide business.

Consignia also confirmed that it had been holding talks with listed Dutch mail, express and logistics group TPG over forming a joint venture.

It is thought this could have included TPG taking a majority holding stake in the Royal Mail arm of Consignia.

But talks, which lasted several months, were terminated two weeks ago, and both sides said there were no plans to resurrect them.