Meet the Gosforth social club secretary inundated with other people's mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Over the last 12 months, Coxlodge & Gosforth Social Club has been repeatedly receiving letters addressed to here, there and seemingly everywhere

A social club secretary has been left fuming after the Royal Mail failed to stamp out a post problem that left him inundated with other people’s mail.

There are few things more infuriating than being told by a company you didn’t receive the letter they sent out to you because it’s been “lost in the post”.

Well it might just be at Coxlodge & Gosforth Social Club, because if there’s one man who has been getting more than his fair share of deliveries over the past year, it’s the club’s secretary.

John Coppinger estimates that more than 150 letters have been mis-delivered to the social club in the last 12 months, despite the fact he has complained to the Royal Mail depot in Gosforth on countless occasions.

“You have no idea how infuriating it is - it’s as if it’s some sort of big joke,” Mr Coppinger, 71, explained about the repeat mis-deliveries - something for which Royal Mail have now apologised.

“Why do they keep delivering all these letters here when they’re clearly marked for elsewhere?

“The amount I have to take back to them, it’s as if they’re employing me as one of their postmen!”

Letters addressed to the local fire station, to the bowling club, to the community centre, and even to the Royal British Legion Club, which closed more than two years ago - to name but a few - have repeatedly been posted through the social club’s door.

It has fallen to Mr Coppinger, now retired but formerly the chairman of the Federation Brewery and president of Blyth Spartans AFC, to sort through the piles of correspondence and return it to the sorting office in Gosforth.

Yet the problem has still not been resolved, despite the pensioner repeatedly flagging up the persistent problem.

“I keep taking the letters into the sorting office every month or so, in bundles of 30 or 40, and asking Royal Mail to sort it out,” an exasperated Mr Coppinger added.

“The manager always says: ‘Ah thank you sir, we’ll look in it’.

“But nothing ever seems to happen.

“It just keeps going on and on.”

At least one letter is mis-delivered to the social club almost every other day, Mr Coppinger insists, and his patience has well and truly worn thin with the firm.

What concerns the Kenton Bar resident most is that some of the letters have been mis-delivered on more than one occasion - and he believes some of the social club’s own correspondence has failed to reach the right destination.

“I’ve had breweries ask me why we haven’t responded to invoices, but they’ve never arrived in the post so I have to get them emailed across,” he continued.

“I’ve got a pile of 30-odd letters in the club office which aren’t even for us, yet I haven’t got all of the club’s own post coming through!”

Royal Mail have apologised to Mr Coppinger and insist the delivery-office manager will now ensure daily checks are put in place to prevent the problem from occurring again.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Royal Mail would like to apologise to Mr Coppinger.

“The delivery-office manager will be putting daily checks in place to ensure this mis-delivery does not occur again.

“Any customers with concerns about their mail should contact Royal Mail customer services on 03457 740 740.”

[pants123]

Looks like to me... there trying to get this fella to do some lapsing....