As my wife and I were going to be on holiday on polling day we applied for postal votes — well ahead of the deadline.

We hadn’t received these by May 12 and as we were due to leave on May 14, I contacted the electoral registrar’s office.

They told me these were being sent out on a “staggered basis” and we might receive them before we left but this could not be guaranteed.

They hadn’t arrived by the date we left so we were deprived of our right to vote.

At a time when politicians are trying to get more people to vote it seems odd that the local electoral registrar seems to be so dilatory in sending out postal votes.

At the very least the application should state the date on which the forms will be sent out so it can be seen whether it is worth applying for a postal vote.

John Trayner

Squires Lane, Finchley