North Wales man's payout after dog chews £800 of fivers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A DOG owner won £450 compensation after his pet pooch chewed a parcel – which a postie should never have put through his letterbox.

Coin and banknotes dealer Bruce Goulborn’s pet spaniel Benny munched through £800 worth of historic fivers after a bungling postman got a neighbour to sign for a special delivery.

Mr Goulborn, who should have signed for the precious package, wasn’t in, and it fell into the jaws of his dog.

Yesterday a court ordered Royal Mail to pay Bruce, from Rhyl, £450 compensation as the damaged notes are now only worth £350.

Last night the numismatist (coin collector), who runs Goulborn Collection Ltd from the Rhyl Coin and Stamp Centre in Sussex Street, said Benny, 11, “thought it was his birthday” when he sunk his teeth into the parcel “like a chew toy”.

The dog’s teeth pierced two pristine 1937 white fivers from the Liverpool branch of the Bank of England – meaning he’d ‘eaten’ £450 worth of his doting owner’s money.

They were being returned to him by a client who had paid for the registered delivery, Rhyl county court heard.

Royal Mail promise to cover losses under their special delivery services, but they argued Mr Goulborn could not “adequately prove” how much he paid for the notes.

But he produced a handwritten invoice showing the customer had stumped up £800, which he’d later refunded – leaving him out of pocket.

The postal service said compensation is based on actual loss – the amount it costs to acquire, purchase or manufacture the item, and not what it is worth at retail price.

Special deliveries are meant to be signed for only by the household the package is intended for. If the addressee isn’t home, a card should be posted through the door saying they can collect it from a sorting office.

But in this case, the package was signed for by a neighbour and shoved through Mr Golborn’s letterbox.

It is the second time Mr Goulborn has taken action against Royal Mail and won.

Last June, the expert celebrated his first victory over the loss of 21 postcards mailed to four different sources. A subsequent case was resolved out of court.

Awarding Mr Goulborn £450 compensation and £95 costs yesterday, district judge John Thomas said it was an “unusual scenario.”

“Mr Goulborn is experienced in this field and has proved himself a credible and honest witness.

“This is an issue of fairness and Royal Mail do have a compensation scheme in place for customers who have problems with loss or damage to mail.

“The issue is that of the actual cost to Mr Goulborn, he has no bank statements to show the court, but he estimates that he paid between £500 to £600 for the notes.

“He is a good customer of Royal Mail’s because quite clearly an enormous amount of work is undertaken by mail order and the like.”

Speaking outside the court, Mr Goulborn said he was pleased about the outcome.

“Benny thought it was his birthday when the package arrived,” he said.

“He sank his teeth right into it.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We will now have to consider the court judgement and respond accordingly.

“However, Royal Mail’s position on payment of compensation for lost items remains unchanged and is based on actual loss.”

[not me]

you see no good deed goes unpunished
do the job right and card them all