A woman who knitted 118 hats for a hospital baby unit said she is 'extremely upset' after the package got lost in the post.
Rita Smith, from Witney, spent two months knitting the tiny hats for babies in the maternity unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after staff circulated an appeal.
The hats are being trialled as a visual reminder to staff for babies that need extra observation.
Mrs Smith used Royal Mail's Tracked 48 service, but the parcel never arrived.
She told the Oxford Mail: "May I warn anyone knitting red hats for the JR Hospital not to rely on Royal Mail to deliver them.
"I posted 118 hats to the JR last November and they never received them.
"They were last tracked to the East Oxford depot never to be seen again."
Mrs Smith complained and then complained further.
Eventually she was told that as she could not provide proof she had paid for the wool she could not get compensation.
She said: "Instead they sent me two first class stamp books to cover the postage.
"I asked if they could give a donation to the hospital, but they refused.
"I didn't actually want any money, I just wanted the charity to be helped. I find the whole issue extremely upsetting.
"It took me over two months to knit all these hats, and they were desperate for them."
Following contact from the Oxford Mail, Royal Mail said it has reviewed this case and will arrange payment for the materials as well as a goodwill payment that Mrs Smith can donate to a charity of her choice.
A spokesperson said: "We conducted a thorough search of the delivery office, but were unfortunately unable to locate the parcel.
"We apologise unreservedly for the inconvenience."
They said as the hospital receives extremely large volumes of mail, some items may be missed from scanning "as maybe on this occasion".
It is not the first time the troubled company has faced complaints.
In June 2024 East Oxford residents said they were missing hospital appointments and bill payments as Royal Mail was only delivering once every two to three weeks.
Following more complaints in September Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds paid an unannounced visit to the depot in Littlemore in October and saw "a lot of mail" waiting to be delivered.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "The local team have been working extremely hard to improve deliveries at the Oxford East delivery office and we can confirm that in the overwhelming majority of cases items are being delivered to addresses six days a week.
"Where it is not possible to achieve that, and it is not possible to deliver to a specific address on a given a day, mail for that address is prioritised the next working day."
