A couple said their postal votes failed to arrive after posties were told to “prioritise parcels”.

Sandra Javens and her husband Dave are away in France and unable to vote in today’s General Election despite applying for postal votes over a month ago.

The couple, who live near Bosham, claimed their postman told them sorting offices were giving precedence to parcels over letters.

Sandra, 75, said: “We are so angry. The choice has been taken out of our hands.

“We just want to put our vote in for who and what we want. There has been an awful lot of anger.

“We can’t stand there and feel angry but say ‘oh, but I didn’t vote’ – because we tried!”

Sandra and Dave, 77, applied for postal votes five weeks ago.

After “waiting and waiting” for their vote to arrive, the couple questioned their postman five days before they were due to leave for the South of France.

Sarah said she told her the Royal Mail sorting office was “prioritising parcels at the moment”.

The pair did not receive their postal vote before they set off on holiday.

There have been concerns that postal votes had been delayed nationwide with one government minister saying they were “urgently investigating” the issues.

Lewes candidate Maria Caulfield told Sky News two days ago that the postal affairs minister was taking the issue “very seriously” and “investigating this urgently”.

Royal Mail was approached for comment about the Javens' concerns.