£1000 worth of Carburettors considered dangerous items and now lost.

[ArchangelSpeedshop]

I run a small garage in Linlithgow, Scotland, mainly working on classic cars.

Foolishly decided to send a set of Triple Weber 40 DCOE's to my engine builder in Redditch Birmingham using Royal Mails, Tracked, Insured, Delivered by 1pm service for £27. I usually use DHL, but for some unknown reason I chose royal mail. The DO is about 80 metres from my workshop and I see the staff everyday and even drop in a few treats at Christmas

This was last Thursday, I have a customers car to finish later this week, it seems Edinburgh MC have decided that the carburettors are dangerous and prohibited goods, and are holding them. As with all old car parts they smell a little fuelly, but they were extremely well packaged and also in a box saying genuine Maserati parts. There is nothing on the website about not sending carburettors. I send them by courier to my builder all the time. I ring the number on the website to discover, that no one knows where they are, they could be in the Northern Ireland returns depot (who have a backlog going back to April 24th) or it could be in Edinburgh, or they could have been destroyed.

Essentially Royal Mail have lost/stolen an expensive box full of car parts and all they can say is we don't know/we don't care.

Until they know where the parcel is they cant pay out on the insurance according to the women on the phone, but they don't know, even though it is tracked.

I am so angry with my choice of using the worst logistics company in the UK next to Hermes.

Tracking Number: SE100911185GB

Complaints Reference: L-7561521415

[Snaggletooth]

Oil, petrol etc come under the dangerous goods rules, so are banned from the mail. The rules exist in part to protect other people’s mail from damage from leaks etc. Royal Mail seem to interpret this as including used car parts with residues of oily substances, although the guidance is not clear.

According to the tracking, this item has been identified as suspected dangerous goods. It will be a very low priority for Royal Mail, but it should eventually get moved to the National Returns Centre for further investigation. You might get your carburettor back, but I wouldn’t expect to see it for several weeks.

[Norfolk 'N' Chance]

Oil, petrol etc come under the dangerous goods rules, so are banned from the mail. The rules exist in part to protect other people’s mail from damage from leaks etc. Royal Mail seem to interpret this as including used car parts with residues of oily substances, although the guidance is not clear.

This makes obvious sense as the carriage of dangerous goods by road presents additional risks, to the driver, the vehicle and the potential for there to be a total loss incident. Whilst I have some sympathy for the original posters loss, especially as the item was empty, it is good to see that someone one identified a potential mail risk item and that their training kicked in and the correct procedures were followed, albeit at the expense of customer service. - Not being able to locate it, is a separate issue and its unfortunate that more help cant be made in that respect.

What prompted my reply to this thread, was really an aside; In that I would have thought that these same rules for carriage of dangerous goods also applied to Parcelforce? - The reason I raise this is that a while ago (during lockdown) I ordered some butane gas cartridges, some batteries, paint, brushes and thinners and a few other non hazardous items from Screwfix and it all came the next day in one package by Parcelforce. No external markings/label on it, so I assume it was considered as non hazardous parcel as it passed through the network? - maybe it was an oversight but its at the least a probability that there are other hazardous/dangerous goods in transit unbeknown to staff.

Similarly it raised a smile with me recently, when I tried to send a small flat round watch battery by post, the lady at the post office counters office seemed to have it in the category of spent Uranium fuel rods! "Its dangerous items.. you cant send that" ....

Like so many things in life its the proportionality of the hazard and the risk, although I accept where the public are concerned maybe it is simple to have a one size fits all blanket policy.

Regards Norfolk N Chance

[wallan]

Oil, petrol etc come under the dangerous goods rules, so are banned from the mail. The rules exist in part to protect other people’s mail from damage from leaks etc. Royal Mail seem to interpret this as including used car parts with residues of oily substances, although the guidance is not clear.

This makes obvious sense as the carriage of dangerous goods by road presents additional risks, to the driver, the vehicle and the potential for there to be a total loss incident. Whilst I have some sympathy for the original posters loss, especially as the item was empty, it is good to see that someone one identified a potential mail risk item and that their training kicked in and the correct procedures were followed, albeit at the expense of customer service. - Not being able to locate it, is a separate issue and its unfortunate that more help cant be made in that respect.

What prompted my reply to this thread, was really an aside; In that I would have thought that these same rules for carriage of dangerous goods also applied to Parcelforce? - The reason I raise this is that a while ago (during lockdown) I ordered some butane gas cartridges, some batteries, paint, brushes and thinners and a few other non hazardous items from Screwfix and it all came the next day in one package by Parcelforce. No external markings/label on it, so I assume it was considered as non hazardous parcel as it passed through the network? - maybe it was an oversight but its at the least a probability that there are other hazardous/dangerous goods in transit unbeknown to staff.

Similarly it raised a smile with me recently, when I tried to send a small flat round watch battery by post, the lady at the post office counters office seemed to have it in the category of spent Uranium fuel rods! "Its dangerous items.. you cant send that" ....

Like so many things in life its the proportionality of the hazard and the risk, although I accept where the public are concerned maybe it is simple to have a one size fits all blanket policy.

Regards Norfolk N Chance

Possibly due to 1st / 2nd Class items may be transported on an Aircraft while Parcel Force items are conveyed by Road ?

[ArchangelSpeedshop]

The carbs were cleaned thoroughly before being sent.

There are no restrictions on sending car parts through royal mail, only parcel force worldwide.

This was Royal Mail Special Delivery and no one can tell me where they are.

Went to three MC's and DO's today, finally spoke to someone who will look into this properly.

I can see that Royal mail sees itself as an institution who can't be questioned, and employees ex and current have an "us and them" attitude.

Unfortunately without customers there would be no Royal Mail.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Just to make sure you are aware. We are not an Official Royal Mail site we can only give advice and insights based on working within the system.

If you are looking for an official response, this site is probably not the best site for you. Very few of us are trained on what can and what can't be sent in the system, or on the policies and compensation that may apply. Certainly, anyone posting on here as a postie is doing it voluntarily and in their own time and with no access to official information and no "us and them attitude" is intended.

We would therefore ask that you recognise that in any future contact you have with RoyalMailChat