Aunt’s card wishing one-year-old nephew happy birthday turns up eight years too late
RICHARD WILSON immediately recognised his sister’s handwriting on the envelope addressed to his son, Alfie.
The transport modeller from Berkshire, Reading, was curious to know why Alfie’s aunt would be writing to her nephew, so much so that he paid Royal Mail a £2.50 fee to receive the card as the first-class stamp was apparently “no longer valid for postage”, according to a yellow sticker fixed to the envelope.
Opening the card this week he read the message: “To Alfie, lots of love on your first birthday. From Auntie Sally and Uncle Pat.” The card was finished with a kiss, but as touching as it was, there was something slightly off about its timing. For one, Alfie’s birthday had come and gone six months prior in October. For another, he was now nine.
As it turns out, Royal Mail had failed to deliver the birthday card for eight and a half years. It was unsurprising that the stamp was invalid, as it was attached to the letter in 2015 and thus did not have the bar code that was introduced in 2022 and became a legal requirement last year. Royal Mail is supposed to deliver 93 per cent of its firstclass post within one day of collection, and 98.5 per cent of second-class post within three working days, under targets set by the regulator, Ofcom. But in November last year, it was found to have breached this requirement – and was fined £5.6 million.
Thinking the £2.50 fee he had just paid was a tad unfair, Mr Wilson complained to Royal Mail on X. Mr Wilson was refunded £10.80 and was sent a book of eight first-class stamps. Royal Mail also sent his son Alfie a £10 cheque “to buy himself something”, as a gesture of goodwill.
A Royal Mail spokesman said the company “could not speculate” on why the letter remained undelivered for nearly a decade.