Post 'back to normal' : but one letter was delivered via Afr

[POSTMAN]

http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/8795 ... ia_Africa/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THE Royal Mail has assured people in Oxfordshire that the post has returned to normal after the Christmas disruptions.

Heavy snowfall in December caused a massive backlog of post, with people left waiting for their Christmas cards and presents. Postmen and women made extra evening deliveries in the run-up to Christmas, but Royal Mail was forced to admit it would not be able to deliver everything in time.

However, Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall said last night: “The nation’s Christmas mail bag has been delivered, the overwhelming majority of it by Christmas Eve.

“There was a huge effort by our postmen and women despite the worst December weather in living memory.”

He added: “We have had some reports of individual items of Christmas mail arriving after Christmas, but we are confident these are isolated examples.”

However one Wantage couple are taking the Royal Mail’s assurances with a pinch of salt, after a letter they received from a London-based charity was sent via Sierra Leone.

Ann and Ken Taylor, from East Hendred near Wantage, last week received a charity appeal envelope they should have got in November. And according to the postmark and stamped messages, the envelope had gone on a 6,000-mile round trip.

Mrs Taylor, a retired bursar, said: “It’s rather a roundabout way to get from London to Wantage, all the way to Africa.”

She added: “I suggest Royal Mail goes to Specsavers.”

The couple are also waiting for two Christmas cards and The Spectator from two weeks ago.

And Elizabeth Wells, 62, from Bicester, yesterday finally received a missing Christmas card which had been posted on December 16.

She said: “The card was only being sent from Tunbridge Wells.

“We have fantastic postmen and women here, but on this occasion, they’re a little late.”

Mr Hall said: “We would like to apologise to the customer whose mail was misdirected to Sierra Leone in error.

“It is very rare for domestic items of mail to be mixed up with overseas items and we apologise for the excessive delay this caused.”