A gran was left petrified when she was sent a police machine gun in the post by mistake.
The package was delivered by courier to Catherine Roots – when it should have been sent to firearms officers at the nearby police HQ.
Mrs Roots had been expecting a horse harness in the post so opened the package thinking it was that.
But instead, she was terrified to find the box contained a Heckler & Koch black sub-machine gun.
She called the police and two stunned armed officers rushed to her house and took it away.
Top brass later explained blundering suppliers had got one letter of the postcode wrong, and it ended up at her smallholding rather than the Dorset Police HQ in Winfrith, near Dorchester.
She said: “I was absolutely shocked and petrified.
“I get a lot of packages and I signed for it thinking it was a harness for one of my horses. I just plonked it down and didn’t think about it but when I later opened it up I was terrified. You don’t expect something like that to arrive. I didn’t touch it –I didn’t know if it would go off.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I found a letter underneath it addressed to the Dorset Police firearms unit with the correct address. I don’t blame the police but whoever sent it must have seen that they were delivering it to a private address.
“They made a mistake with the postcode and somebody really ought to be taken to task.”
She added: “If it had got into the wrong hands, the consequences wouldn’t bear thinking about.
“I think something as a big and as serious as a sub-machine gun shouldn’t be sent by a domestic courier that just travels around the roads and delivers to ordinary private addresses.”
Shop manager Mrs Roots, who is in her 50s, was later told the weapon was a frighteningly realistic training gun that only fires infra-red beams.
Dorset Police is seeking assurances from the supplier that the mistake never happens again. Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Whiting said:
"The item is perfectly safe and can’t cause anyone any harm.” But he admitted: “It does look like one of our firearms.”
So, what I want to know is, Which courier was responsible for this ? Though, tbf, it was the suppliers midstake.
Just spilt stain-remover down my shirt. Now how do I get that out?
It's all very well, the Police saying it's just a training tool, that can't harm anyone. But to the untrained eye, it's terrifyingly real. Such things should be delivered by specialist Couriers, with Guards. In the wrong hands, it could have been used for armed robberies!!
Whoever authorised the use of a normal Courier, needs to be severely disciplined. And steps should be taken to ensure that they never use normal Couriers for this type of thing EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!
Don't knock Insanity
it's just another outlook on Reality!
In the situation we all find ourself's in with management bullying and harrasment it would be like the usa postal service when they went through the changes of the 80,s and early 90,s!. I will stick with the trusty battle axe one swift blow though both knee cap,s and off with thier head's :cfo & :lfo
disgruntledpostie1 wrote:It's not a machine gun - it's a G36 assault rifle my favourite weapon in Call Of Duty
I thought the cozzers only used the MP5 and it's varients - or do the yokels do things differently?
MP5's, P90's, G3, Steyr AUG and G36's are all used by the police although all weapons are semi-automatic only.
The MOD police use SA80's and MP7's.
I never knew that - but I did know, I shouldn't f*ck with a tooled up cozzer
The PSNI are the only police force to have the option of fully automatic fire I remember going into Belfast and seeing the police patroling with M1 Carbines
I'm preparing myself for the zombie invasion, rule number 1 - Cardio
disgruntledpostie1 wrote:
The PSNI are the only police force to have the option of fully automatic fire I remember going into Belfast and seeing the police patroling with M1 Carbines
Good job you said PSNI as when it was the RUC I am pretty sure the Provos had plenty of access to M1s, allegedly thanks to Noraid (along with the rumoured stingers )
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disgruntledpostie1 wrote:
The PSNI are the only police force to have the option of fully automatic fire I remember going into Belfast and seeing the police patroling with M1 Carbines
Good job you said PSNI as when it was the RUC I am pretty sure the Provos had plenty of access to M1s, allegedly thanks to Noraid (along with the rumoured stingers )
The RUC had M1's before they swapped them for MP5's and G3's (the G3's where only issued to police in border areas for long range shooting). Plus the used to be issued with Ruger 38's until recently whenever they changed to Glocks (the new recuits complained about the heavy trigger pull on the revolver ).
I'm preparing myself for the zombie invasion, rule number 1 - Cardio
I will stick with the trusty battle axe one swift blow though both knee cap,s and off with thier head's :cfo & :lfo
my favourite weapon in Call Of Duty 
