Derry postal worker loses hair in 'practical joke'

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12710153" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A postal worker from Londonderry has suffered burns and lost clumps of his hair in what is understood to have been a practical joke gone wrong.

He discovered the hair loss when he took off a motorbike helmet he had taken from the staff locker room at Royal Mail's delivery office on Great James Street on Wednesday afternoon.

It is believed that an acidic substance had been put in the helmet.

Royal Mail have launched an investigation.

The postal worker had returned from his rounds at about 1600 GMT when he put on the helmet.

He did not discover anything wrong until he went home and took it off.

The matter has been reported to the police but it is understood that they have dropped their investigation as it is now being dealt with internally by Royal Mail.

A source said that workers at the delivery office are "very annoyed and angry" about what happened.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

[stokes11eg]

wonder why the police have dropped the matter? hope they catch and sack the culprits, and sue the pants of them.

[DGP1]

Sometimes things aren't always what they seem over here but if it is true then the idiot who did it deserves his arse kicking.

[fishtank]

That's no "practical joke".
The police would only drop the matter if the complaint was withdrawn,it would have nothing to do with whether Royal Mail were dealing with it "internally".
Scum.

[Night Tonic]

Probably put Veet in it. That would do it. Dissolves hairs.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Postal worker suffers burns in sick prank

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... 11514.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A practical joke gone wrong has left a postal worker in Londonderry with clumps of hair missing and burns to his scalp.


The man, who is based at the Royal Mail's Great James's Street delivery office, suffered hair loss and burns after a cream substance, believed to be acidic, had been placed inside his motorcycle helmet.

The delivery man returned from his rounds at around 4pm on Wednesday and put his helmet on without noticing the substance inside and did not discover anything was wrong until he arrived home when clumps of his hair began falling out.

Royal Mail has now launched an internal investigation and the incident has been slammed by the head of the Communications Workers Union in Derry, Charlie Kelly, who said it “beggars belief that anyone would do this”.

Mr Kelly spoke to the man and said he was in an extremely distressed state.

He added: “I spoke with him this morning and he is in a bad way. He is very shocked and distressed and will be off work for quite some time, I would imagine.

“It beggars belief that someone would do this and I know that if the culprit is found their feet won't hit the ground, they will be out of here so fast.

“He is an extremely popular member of staff and I think this was someone's idea of a practical joke given this man is a biker and has long hair, but there is nothing funny about this.

“I don't know what the actual substance was that was put in his helmet but the consequences could have been worse if it had gone down into his eyes.”

Mr Kelly added: “I don't believe it was done in a malicious way because in the 20 years I have worked in this office I have never seen a place where the staff get on as well, there is certainly nowhere like it within the Royal Mail.

“Staff here are in a state of shock and are annoyed about what happened”

The PSNI were contacted about the incident but they have withdrawn their investigation as the matter is being handled internally by Royal Mail.

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: “We are investigating an incident in our Great James’s Street delivery office which resulted in an employee sustaining burns. The incident has been reported to the police and our internal investigation is ongoing.”