Missing mail finally arrives

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/ham ... rrives.php

THE missing post saga that has hit many residents across Basingstoke finally seems to be coming to an end, with piles of previously undelivered mail landing on doorsteps.

Many people have contacted The Gazette after reading that part-time postman Kulasingiam Rajeepan of Reading, was being investigated for allegedly hoarding mail while working in Basingstoke.

As reported last week, Carol Donaldson, who lives in Winchester Road, Basingstoke, failed to receive scores of letters, including concert tickets and important business documents.

Her husband even missed a credit card payment and incurred penalty charges because a bill was not delivered.

However, she has now received some 26 items of "undelivered mail", which includes Christmas cards and several important documents from the DVLA which she now has duplicates of.

She said: "It was nice to finally get my mail, but I am far from impressed with the letter of supposed apology.
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"I really would like to have an apology from the manager at the Basingstoke depot because he denied there was any problem when I first flagged it up."

Mrs Donaldson said she plans to write to the chief executive of Royal Mail to demand an apology and some appropriate compensation.

Peter Jones, of Pack Lane, is disgusted with the situation after his wife Ann's passport was among the undelivered mail.

"We have had driving licences not arrive, Christmas cards and other general post, and the worst was my wife's passport which we ended up having to pay for twice," he explained.

Mr Jones added: "We have now had a bundle of letters back and my wife's passport is there, but it's too late. We had to cancel it weeks ago because we thought it could have been stolen."

And Mr Jones is far from happy with the letter from Royal Mail, which explains the problems.

"I thought it was meant to be an apology, but it is nothing of the sort," he said. "They even had the cheek to try to charge me excess postage on one of the Christmas cards - it's a joke."

The Gazette has also received calls from residents in Brighton Hill, Buckskin and Kempshott - all of whom have not received their mail as normal and have only recently received items sent before Christmas.

Jane Thomas, an external relations manager at Royal Mail, confirmed that an employee from Basingstoke delivery office has been suspended after a quantity of undelivered mail was recovered.

She said: "That mail is now being delivered with a letter of apology to all customers affected.

"We understand the consequences this has on customers, which is why we take a zero-tolerance approach towards any dishonesty and always seek to prosecute the tiny minority of people who abuse their position of trust."

[DGP1]

"We have had driving licences not arrive, Christmas cards and other general post, and the worst was my wife's passport which we ended up having to pay for twice," he explained.

Mr Jones added: "We have now had a bundle of letters back and my wife's passport is there, but it's too late. We had to cancel it weeks ago because we thought it could have been stolen."

When did we start delivering passports again?

[sevenandseven]

Seem to have had a few of these. One lady received a correctly addressed envelope which contained a passport and personal details - unfortunately for someone she did not know. Gave it back to me and I asked a manager what I should do with it, suggesting it should be repacked in an official RM envelope and sent back to the original sender as it was clearly important. He said put a dead sticker on it and kill it off. The customer service at Royal Mail really is something to be proud about but then they don't give a fig about the workers so why should they worry about the customers. Wonderful company.

[dvbuk55]

Seem to have had a few of these. One lady received a correctly addressed envelope which contained a passport and personal details - unfortunately for someone she did not know. Gave it back to me and I asked a manager what I should do with it, suggesting it should be repacked in an official RM envelope and sent back to the original sender as it was clearly important. He said put a dead sticker on it and kill it off. The customer service at Royal Mail really is something to be proud about but then they don't give a fig about the workers so why should they worry about the customers. Wonderful company.

He was quite right. The item should have been endorsed addressee unknown and sent to Belfast - they would then have redirected it to where it should have gone - that's their job not ours.

[Stormproof]

Had a few customers come in the CO recently for surcharged items that were passports, looks like the courier had put them in a postbox instead of delivering them.