Parcel destined for 10 miles down the road takes 750-mile ro

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Parcel destined for 10 miles down the road takes 750-mile round trip

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WHEN Kevin and Wendy Sheldon posted a parcel destined for 10 miles down the road, they expected it to arrive pretty quickly.

But five weeks later it was returned to them – having travelled on a 750-mile round trip via Belfast.

The brother and sister, of Havenwood Rise in Clifton, posted the package, containing a teddy bear, to Bond Street in Arnold on August 26.

It was a surprise present for their auntie, Betty Evans, who was celebrating her 80th birthday.


But on Monday the parcel arrived back at their door, complete with the Belfast postmark.

Kevin, 54, said: “I was really surprised when I saw it said Belfast on the package – I’ve never known anything like it!

“You hear stories about packages getting lost, but it seems strange that it’s come back to us having gone from Clifton to Northern Ireland and back to Clifton again.

“It was only supposed to go to Arnold!”

Wendy, 50, added: “It’s certainly a very well travelled teddy bear!

“It was supposed to be a nice surprise for our auntie’s birthday. We hadn’t heard anything about it arriving with her, but we didn’t want to ask too much as it would have spoilt the surprise.

“When we got the parcel back yesterday I thought I’d won something in a competition at first, but then when we looked closer we realised it was the parcel we’d sent in August.”

The parcel cost £2.80 to send – but Wendy says she won’t be risking posting it again.

She said: “I think I’ll just hand deliver it now – I don’t want it to go halfway round the world next time!”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said all parcels which cannot be delivered to the recipient for any reason are sent to the national returns centre in Belfast.

From there they are returned to the sender.

He said: “In this case we’ve done everything correctly and made sure we returned the item to the sender.

“There is a team of people in Belfast who will try to find out where the parcel came from so it can be returned.”

[wannabeek]

I think that's pretty decent fast service, considering it was a 2nd class packet and presumably it was sitting at dear old Aunt Betty's local DO for 3 weeks while she happily displayed the P739 on her mantelpiece thinking it was a birthday card from her postie!

[saddlerposty]

once I came across a birthday card type letter bound for Australia amongst my mail, ok so the town in Oz did sound and was spelt almost identical to the town I deliver in, but this card was posted in Australia ffs.

[framusjsx]

Go see your auntie? 10 miles to post something borders on ridiculous when its a family member and its a special occasion