MoD loses 6,000 parcels and letters for soldiers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Ministry of Defence officials have lost nearly 6,000 parcels and letters bound for troops since 2005.

The figures from the British Forces Post Office come days after it emerged MoD staff picked up £47m in bonuses this year.

The missing post figures were discovered by Steffan Lewis, a parliamentary candidate for Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru after complaints by service families.

Mr Lewis said: "Letters sent to our squaddies from loved ones are a source of comfort. Receiving such correspondence on time and undamaged is the very least our squaddies should expect."

He asked the MoD to detail lost or damaged items since 2005 - a year before British troops deployed to Helmand in Afghanistan.

Using Freedom of Information laws, Mr Lewis found 427 items sent to our brave troops were damaged, 219 delayed and 5,868 vanished.

The BFPO handled 3,200,000 kilogrammes of mail last year.

The Islwyn constiuency Mr Lewis hopes to win from Labour and ex-Veterans Minister MP Don Touhig - is a hotbed for Army recruitment.

Mr Lewis added: "Our heroes deserve a world-class service and, frankly, losing more than 1,000 items a year is unacceptable. I have written to the Defence Secretary demanding these substantial losses are investigated and the trend is reversed."

The investigation also discovered workers at RAF Northolt sorting office in west London intercept three guns a year.

It was unclear whether the weapons were being sent to or from troops.

An MoD spokesman said: "The loss of any item of mail is a matter of regret. But since 2005 the British Forces Post Office has handled more than three million kilograms of post and the number of items lost is a tiny fraction of the total."

[IWW Fellow Worker]

There seems to be a link between crap performance from so-called managers and massive bonus payments. Crozier, Tolhurst, Higson, bankers, civil servants. Fraudsters all!