Burghclere man hits out over missing cheques

Royal Mail under fire after £2,000-worth goes missing

A Burghclere man has hit out at Royal Mail after several cheques he posted, worth a total £2,000, went missing in the post.

Patrick Cobb, of Well Street, said he recently experienced two envelopes going missing, containing six cheques totalling £2,000, after posting them to the HSBC bank in Northbrook Street.

He posted into a mailbox situated in West Street in Burghclere.

Mr Cobb, who since April has been running a business producing the book The Railways of Great Britain. A Historical Atlas, costing £307.95 (inc p&p) for the 700-page, two-volume set, said he had cancelled the cheques, but had vowed “never to use Royal Mail again”.

His decision to ditch the company’s services came, he said, after reporting the incident and a Royal Mail detective revealing to him that some 10,000 similar cases were under investigation countrywide.

“I will never put a cheque in the post again,” he said.

Instead, he is prepared to drive to his bank in Newbury to deposit cheques in person, a journey necessary around twice a week because the majority of his customers do not use internet banking.

“Lots of my customers don’t even have computers,” he said.

The incident was also reported to Hampshire Constabulary, who informed him it was a matter to take up with Royal Mail.

Mr Cobb, a Burghclere villager of some 15 years, said he also used Newbury sorting office to post his atlases, but had since made other arrangements, after recently discovering local mail went via Swindon.

“I’ve arranged for them to go out from Falkirk instead, where my printers/binders are based – and using UK Mail,” he said.

Royal Mail spokesperson Val Bodden said the company was “concerned” to hear about Mr Cobb’s experience as 58 million items of mail were delivered every day.

She said: “Whilst we are unfortunately not in a position to identify exactly what has happened to the items concerned, we would like to assure Mr Cobbs that every item of mail is important to us and we take very seriously any reports from a customer about loss or damage.

“We would always advise customers to use Special Delivery for sending items of value, including cash, cheques and gift vouchers, as Special Delivery items travel through a separate, secure network and the items are tracked at each key point in our system.

“ This service also offers increased compensation if required.”

Anyone with postal queries should call Royal Mail Customer Services on 03457 740740 or online at www.royalmail.com.

n Have you experienced any items go missing in the post in the Newbury area? Email reporter, Jane Meredith: jane.meredith@newburynews.co.uk.