A major UK city has suffered a blow after a vital courier went out of business.

Pedal and Post ceased trading "without notice", the company announced earlier this year.

Evri utilised the service to deliver within Oxford's Clean Air Zone, and residents were hit with disruption and delays as many parcels ended up being delayed.

Carol Leonard, a resident of Grandpont, Oxford, reported several parcels - ordered in late January - had not been delivered. They contained special food for her cat as well as litter, and though they were dispatched for delivery, they remained sitting at the depot.

They were eventually delivered on 10 February - two weeks after her orders were placed.

An Evri spokesperson said at the time: "We successfully deliver more than 900 million parcels each year, with industry-leading on-time delivery rates."

"We were disappointed to learn that our e-cargo bike delivery partner in Oxford ceased trading without notice, which caused some temporary disruption for a small number of customers in the local area.

"We have quickly re-organised deliveries in the area, and our local team are working hard to resume normal service.

"We have spoken to Carol to apologise for her experience and are pleased to confirm her parcel has been delivered this afternoon."

Pedal and Post stated online that the decision followed the loss of a major client earlier this year. Both its Oxford and London sites have now closed.

CEO Christopher Benton confirmed that the company's entire workforce of approximately 60 – a blend of self-employed and employed individuals – has been made redundant.

"Trying to be an ethical employer in a primarily self-employed industry is difficult," Benton told Zag Daily. "Lower operating costs of cargo bikes really helped enable this to be able to pay better.

"Our closure isn't a reflection on cargo bike use or logistics. With simple, small businesses that are reliant on five to six major clients, it happens sometimes that you lose one and can't sustain moving forward."

Benton refrained from naming the client involved, stating that they had "met their contractual terms". He added that no financial details could be disclosed at this stage, as there was still "a lot to go through with liquidators".