THE letter from the lady who lost two packages via the Royal Mail sounded very familiar (September 29).

Last week, Royal Mail attempted to deliver a package to my home. It couldn't so I was left a slip saying I could go and collect it from the Leeman Road sorting office.

I went in to see if my parcel had turned up every day except Monday.

Each time I saw the staff, including the manager, giving out letters and parcels to people who had turned up without any valid identification or proof of address.

It clearly stated at the office that you need both proof of address and a valid item of identification. It even tells you what to bring, passport, driving licence, recent utility bill, that sort of thing.

When I went in on Friday, a member of staff handed me a package. Trouble is, it wasn't for me, the address was somewhere in Acomb, I could hardly read the name. What if I had taken it? How would the person who sent it or was supposed to receive it ever find out what happened to it?

There's no way of knowing, because the piece of paper that you sign has no connection to the parcel you have just collected. It's just a signature from you to say that you've collected something. What a wonderful, reliable, modern service.

My parcel never turned up. Despite actually making it to my front door and back to the van, it never made it back to the depot. Mysterious eh?

Even though it went first class, the contents were recorded and the sender has all the receipts, the most compensation I can claim is £28.

I wonder who eventually ended up with my camera.

Martin Vaughan,

Alcuin Avenue,

Tang Hall,

York.

Updated: 10:29 Thursday, October 07, 2004