RM detectives trying to trace owners of millions of gifts

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Royal Mail 'detectives' trying to trace owners of millions of lost Christmas presents

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -20989099/

The Royal Mail 'detectives' trying to trace the owners of millions of lost Christmas presents

A cuddly toy dog, a remote controlled Dalek and a High School Musical doll stand forlorn in the vast warehouse.

All should be wrapped and under a Christmas tree somewhere but they may never get there.

They are just a few of the million of items lost in the post each week in the run-up to Christmas. Most will eventually be auctioned off but, thanks to a crack team of sleuths, a third will reach their destination.

As busy as any elves, investigators work 24 hours a day at the Royal Mail's National Return Centre in Belfast to reunite the presents with their rightful owners.

And many of them even dress like elves to cheer up the festive season. The 200 staff inspect, unwrap and check the sackloads of lost parcels, letter and cards.

Detective Tara Connor's been tracing lost post for seven years and loves to reunite gifts with their rightful owners.

One of today's cases is a £200 games console. "Someone somewhere is missing this Nintendo and they're not cheap, but this is one of the more normal items we have come across," says the 35-year-old.

In recent days mobile phones, Star Wars memorabilia, autographed drum skins, hundreds of teddy bears, replica World Cup trophies, CDs, DVDs, books and photographs have arrived at the football-pitch sized warehouse.

Most have a badly written address or none at all, or the intended recipient has moved.

"If there are no clues at all, then we store all the details of the package in a computer, including the design of the wrapping paper," says Tara. "After that all we need is a good description from the sender or addressee."

But there's no end of surprises as Tara explains: "Just when you think you've seen it all, something else amazes you. Live locusts are about the most shocking thing I've seen come out of a package.

"They must have been meant as food for a snake or lizard but they scared the daylights out of me. So did the maggots on another occasion. One of the other girls was once confronted by a live scorpion.

"Other things make you question what was going through people's minds when they parcelled them up. Things like jewellery, expensive watches and ridiculous amounts of money. Even funeral ashes. And there's the plain bizarre. We found an antique wooden leg in one package.

"Some things have such obvious sentimental value it can be heart breaking not to find their owner. We have photographs which predate both world wars.

"They must be so important to someone that we rarely throw them out, especially as they take up next to no space. Those are things that make us go the extra mile if we can.

"It makes for a very interesting and rewarding job. I once got the silk flowers to a wedding ceremony with only a few hours to spare."

The lost post is kept for up to six months - those with a high value even longer - and are then sent to auction with the sales money invested in the NRC which costs £10million to run each year. All food items are destroyed.

Team Manager Brian Watson, who has worked in the NRC for 28 years, adds: "Something as simple as everyone writing a sender's address on the package would make this job so much easier.

"If we can raise one smile on a child's face at Christmas that wouldn't have otherwise been there, then we know our work has been worth it."

If we can raise a smile on a child's face, we know our work's been worth it

TEAM MANAGER BRIAN WATSON