Hoarded mail is finally delivered — two years late

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MAIL found hoarded at a house in Paignton is now being delivered to customers — two years late.

Out-of-date tax discs, two-year-old birthday and Christmas cards, breast screening appointment letters and business cheques are among the mountain of mail finally being handed to bewildered customers throughout the Bay.

​A postman has been suspended and a Royal Mail inquiry launched after the undelivered post and parcels were discovered.

Staff have been hard at work catching up with the backlog after what is believed to be two van-loads of post were found in a shed.

A Royal Mail spokesman said letters of apology had been sent to hundreds of people.

The undated letter obtained by the Herald Express and signed by Torquay director of operations Gary Isted reads: "I regret to inform you that over a two-year period non delivery of mail took place from the postman engaged in delivering mail to addresses in your locality.

"Royal Mail takes this issue very seriously and has invested over many years in plans to protect the integrity of the mail and ensure the delivery of letters in our care.

"Our internal security team strives to mitigate against such incidents and works with operational colleagues to protect customers' mail.

"Royal Mail is confident that all items of the mail not delivered have been retrieved and these will be delivered to your household over the next few days.

"I am writing to offer my sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused resulting from this non delivery of mail."

The Royal Mail has refused to say how many items were discovered, but has confirmed 'a very large number of letters and parcels had been found inside a house'.

A Torquay man, who collected mail on behalf of a friend, said: "My friend has received a letter of apology from the Royal Mail and stacks of undelivered letters dating back to 2009.

"There were some Christmas cards from two years ago. My friend's neighbour is a builder and has been in conflict with a client over non-payment because he never received his cheque. It's just coming now.

"Another neighbour told me he received four tax discs, all out of date. He kept applying online but never received anything. Now he has to re-apply again."

Another Torquay resident said: "There was no letter explaining it, we just suddenly received post from 2010. There was a birthday card with a voucher in it, which the people who sent it to me must think I just ignored. I've had to ring up and apologise and thank them belatedly. I am not sure if the voucher is still valid but I have had another birthday since then.

"Neighbours have received more important post which went missing."

He said other residents also received breast screening appointments which had been missed and cheques which were now out of date.