Delayed post leaves Norwich family without Christmas presents

A Norwich father was forced to buy last-minute Christmas presents for his family when his parcels were delayed in the post.

John Warrior, who is married with two children, ordered five gifts amounting to �78 that were not delivered on time when a backlog of mail at the post offices was made worse by severe weather in December.

And today the 49-year-old told how the family are still without their presents, some of which were sent as early as December 7.

The factory worker, of Fifers Lane, Hellesdon, said: 'We are getting pretty stressed about it. All we are thinking about is 'has any mail come, have any parcels come?'. You think you are being silly. You tell yourself 'it is only mail', but it is different when it is Christmas presents.'

The missing gifts include a �40 combat smock, a �12 umbrella, an �8 book, �4 of worth of soap and a �4 Thomas the tank engine toy for John's four-year-old son.

The majority of the presents were bought on the internet auction site, ebay, at the beginning of December.

But the missing book, bought from Asda supermarket's online store, was part of an order of two books sent on December 21, and while one book was delivered on time, the other is still in the post.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: 'We are very sorry if any Christmas mail posted by the recommended posting dates did not arrive in time. We always welcome hearing from any customer who has a concern or a query and we would urge them to contact our Customer Services team.'

Meanwhile, pensioner Terry Cann struggled to pay his debit card bill this month when post was delayed by 20 days - despite the fact it was sent first class.

The 70-year-old, from Beverley Road in Earlham, received the bill two days before it was due to be paid and ran the risk of incurring a late payment.

Do you have a story about delayed post? Call reporter Ben Woods on 01603 772439.