Parcel dumped in Ayr woman's bin

Jan 2 2009 by Stuart Wilson

Royal Mail

A CHRISTMAS gift went straight to the rubbish tip – when a postie dumped it in the bin.

Shocked Angela Ferguson returned from work to find a card through her door saying the package couldn’t be delivered.

But instead of leaving it with her neighbour or returning it to the depot in Ayr, the postman left the parcel in her wheelie bin.

And it wasn’t long before her designer Karen Millen blouse, sent as a present from Angela’s sister in England, was going walkies in a bin lorry.

Now the family are battling to get a measly £36 in compensation from the Royal Mail – a third of the package value.

Angela insisted: “You don’t expect your mail to be dumped in a bin just because you’re not around to receive it.

“Apart from anything it’s a really dirty place to put something and doesn’t seem a very intelligent thing to do.

“Maybe the postie thought he was doing me a favour, but it certainly didn’t turn out that way.”

Angela’s complaints have so far fallen on deaf ears – and her family in England aren’t getting much further.

Brother-in-law Ben Barber admitted: “We’re extremely upset as this was a carefully sourced Christmas gift and wasn’t exactly easy to come by.

“To be told it was thrown in the bin just isn’t good enough. Things get lost in the post all the time and you can accept that, but this is unbelievable.

“When we asked for compensation, they said all we’re entitled to is £36 and we have to do all the work by filling in forms to get it back.

“But the value of the package was more than £90 and it would be nice of them to actually apologise.”

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail admitted a blunder had been made but claimed the Barbers could have protected themselves better against the loss.

They insisted: “A delivery procedure error has taken place and we can only apologise for that.

“However, customers can protect themselves by using special delivery for a few extra pounds which would entitle them to compensation of anything up to £250.

“In this case it wasn’t done, but we clearly make the public aware of the services on offer.”