Royal Mail delivers cheque - five years late

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WHEN Rex Wyatt opened his mail last week, he was shocked to discover it was almost five years late.

He was even more upset to find that one of the letters contained a £200 cheque, no longer valid because of time elapsed.

When he phoned Royal Mail to complain, they offered him a book of stamps as compensation.

"I couldn't believe everything had taken five years," said Mr Wyatt, 62, of Toton.

"I've got a cheque for £200 that I now can't cash because it's out of date and they are offering me a book of stamps! It's very upsetting."

Three letters, along with an apology from Royal Mail, arrived in one envelope last Friday.

Mr Wyatt said: "One was a cheque, one was a letter from the bank and one was a letter for my daughter.

"First of all, I looked at it and thought the cheque had been sent last week.

"But then I looked at the postmark on my daughter's letter and saw it was June, 2004.

"Then I looked at the others and they were all June, 2004.

"I told Royal Mail about it and they have offered me a free book of stamps! There's no explanation of what happened to these three letters."

The £200 cheque was from an old friend of Mr Wyatt's, with whom he has lost touch. He had loaned him the money more than ten years ago to help with rent payments.

Mr Wyatt said he was upset that he did not receive the man's letter and cheque on time, as he would have liked to contact him and thank him.

Mr Wyatt said: "It's awful that I've not been able to go to see this man and thank him for paying the money back.

"And there is no compensation except a book of stamps. I've not had the satisfaction of being able to thank this man.

"The letter from Royal Mail apologises for the mail not being up to the usual standard but there was no explanation about where it has been."

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: "While we apologise to the customer for this incident, we always advise our customers to use our Special Delivery service when sending items of value, as they are tracked through a separate secure network at key points in our system."

According to the British Bankers' Association, banks can refuse cheques and label them as out of date if a person tries to cash them more than six months after the date on the cheque.