Late post arrives after four years

Householders in Stockport have received thousands of items of post nearly four years after they were originally sent.

A number of tax statements and out-of-date cheques were among the 17,500 items stolen by a Royal Mail worker after they were posted in December 2005 and January 2006.

The letters were recently delivered to the homes with a SK6 postcode without any further explanation, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Doreen Dilkes, 62, of Bredbury, received a notice informing her that she could appeal against her redundancy from a job she had lost three years earlier.

Her husband Sid said: "We couldn't believe it when we looked at the postal date and saw the letters had been posted so long ago."

Another late item was a postcard sent by a girl from Germany to her long-since split boyfriend.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We can only apologise that anyone who has received delayed items of mail without any explanation. There should have have an explanatory letter and an apology."