Hospital contract staff  were on the brink of a walkout last week, after their employer failed to pay them on time.

Cleaners and porters at the Epsom and St Helier Hospital site in Carshalton were still yet to receive their wages a week after they were due.

The employees work for firm Mitie, who have had a contract with the hospital since June 1.

The staff, many of whom work 11-hour days, were due to get their first pay cheque on June 20, but a week later the money had still not landed in their accounts.

Lynda Berry from Sutton is employed by Mitie as a hospital porter.

She said: "I think it is terrible. We all have mortgages, we have families to support and money we have to pay out.

"Have they considered that some of us might have now incurred bank charges?

"The company will not even explain, how can they justify not paying us?"

Mitie finally dished out the wages after processing the payments on Friday.

A Mitie spokesperson cited a technical fault for the problem, but declined to provide any further information when pressed.

A statement from the company read: "We apologise to the staff who were affected by a delay in payment owing to a technical fault.

"We can confirm that their payments are being processed today."