Royal Mail delivers letter 89 years late

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -late.html

An RSVP to a Boxing Day party has been delivered by Royal Mail 89 years after it was posted.

Janet Barrett was confused when the item, dated Nov 29 1919, dropped through the letterbox at her guesthouse in Weymouth, Dorset.

A note from the Royal Mail, apologising for any delay, accompanied the delivery.

Mrs Barrett, 56, said she hoped somebody would recognise the name of the addressee, Percy Bateman, and shed some light on the mystery.

She said: "When I first looked at it I wondered why I had been sent this tiny envelope. Then I looked closer and spotted the date, 1919.

"I could not believe it. Who knows where it has been all these years?"

The letter was addressed to Mr Bateman at Mrs Barrett's address, 22 Abbotsbury Road, which is now the Basil Towers guesthouse.

An RSVP from somebody called Buffy was inside.

The faint writing stated: "Dear Percy, Many thanks for the invitation, be delighted. See you on the 26th December. Regards Buffy."

It arrived in a plastic bag from the Royal Mail with the note that also apologised for any damage caused to the item while it was in the firm's care.

Mrs Barrett said: "I wonder if whoever Buffy was ever made it to Mr Bateman's house for Boxing Day that year? He may never have got the RSVP.

"Perhaps this letter got lost somewhere over the years and was finally found and delivered, who knows? It is a mystery."

She added: "I really would like to hand it back to someone who knows who it was meant for."

A Royal Mail spokesman acknowledged the delivery was a mystery but she said the letter could not have been in its system all this time.

She said: "We carry out regular checks of machinery, mail bags and post boxes to make sure items are not held up in the system.

"The letter could have been a collector's item which was being sent in another envelope and somehow came free of the outer packaging."

[Stormproof]

Probably from an SPDO that has been closed down and the letter has been found after clearing everything out.

[Big Daz]

Probably from an SPDO that has been closed down and the letter has been found after clearing everything out.

Makes sense to me.

[Lounge Lizard]

Or more likely someone finds an 89 year old letter and envelope when clearing out a house, puts it in a post box as a joke and Royal Mail goes through the sorry-it's-delayed routine, thus allowing the local rag to use the story as 'news'. .

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Or more likely someone finds an 89 year old letter and envelope when clearing out a house, puts it in a post box as a joke and Royal Mail goes through the sorry-it's-delayed routine, thus allowing the local rag to use the story as 'news'. .

Perhaps the reporter did actually that - they do get paid per word published,

[brothermagrew]

You are all wrong it's the new vision of down stream access.