Passersby were "disgusted" after the stash of packages were swiped from a ‘high capacity’ Royal Mail trolley and dumped in the water
Hundreds of letters and parcels which were stolen from a postman's trolley have been spotted floating in a canal.
The stash of packages were swiped from a ‘high capacity’ Royal Mail trolley on Saturday morning and found dumped in the water later that day.
People's letters and parcels had seemingly been emptied before they were discarded near Portland Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Passerby Richard Marsden spotted the detritus as he was walking back from the Portland Museum with his children.
The dad-of-three said: “There were 200 to 300 letters and about 50-60 parcels easily. All the parcels had been ripped open and emptied. There must have been some expensive stuff stolen from them.
Hundreds of stolen letters and parcels spotted floating in canal in Ashton-under-LynePeople's bills were among the letters strewn across the ground
“There were all for Denton addresses. Obviously I didn’t want to open any of the letters because it’s other people’s post, but you could see from the logos that a lot of them were letters from the bank.
“I don’t understand why you would throw them in the water like that. My kids were disappointed because they trying to feed the ducks and they were too scared to come near.
“People were absolutely disgusted.”
Richard, 31, from Hyde, said police officers arrived as he was leaving.
When Richard posted a picture of the stolen post on Facebook, scores of Denton residents said they hadn’t received their post that day.
One said: “Might be why my post never turned up Saturday on the Denton/Audenshaw border.”
An opened package floats in the water as police investigate the incident
Another added: “Disgusting. That wants reporting.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail can confirm that items of mail were stolen from a locked Royal Mail high capacity trolley on Saturday morning in the Denton area of Manchester.
“Royal Mail and the police are continuing to investigate this matter and we would urge anyone with information to contact the police. The safety and security of mail is of the utmost importance to our business.”
Anyone concerned about mail items intended for delivery in the M34 postcode area should contact Royal Mail Customer Services on 03457 740740.”
