Author Topic: Postie signing for my registered letter himself (Read 3034 times)

toontra · « **on:** 17 March, 2017, 08:05:56 am »

My brother was sending me some legal documents which I had to sign and return to the solicitor ASAP so he sent them signed-for & tracked yesterday.

I waited in today to make absolutely sure I took delivery but was surprised when I saw the postie (not our usual) wandering down the street. I went out and asked him if there was a signed-for letter to my address. He simply said "no", so I went inside and looked up the tracking number.

Lo and behold, it was shown as being delivered 1 minute before & signed for by someone called "Carin". I went back out & asked him who Carin was & where she lived - he said he couldn't remember.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt & checked with all my neighbours who were at home. As I thought, none of them had my letter. I caught him up further down the road and told him straight he was lying to me and had signed the machine himself.

He started to become quite aggressive & refused to answer any more questions. Said he would call the police and get my address barred from receiving mail! He then drove off.

On a hunch I looked though my upstairs neighbours' letter box & lo and behold there is my letter, so close but so far - my neighbours are away on holiday & I have no contact details for them (central London rental land).

So he has faked a signature & invented a name, posted my letter through the wrong letter box and then spent 5 minutes lying to my face about what he's done. Have lodged a complaint with RM.

T42 · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 March, 2017, 08:28:37 am »

But somehow not.

Jaded · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 March, 2017, 08:31:15 am »

I believe that is a dismissible offence. Our very friendly and reliable postie stopped doing it because he was scared of losing his job.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 March, 2017, 01:03:14 pm »

My postie has standing orders to sign for stuff himself and put it through my letterbox, and anything too big for the letterbox and not requiring a signature is to be left on the shelf above the door, but he does get the right letterbox. Your postie sounds like a div.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 March, 2017, 01:09:58 pm »

More or less as EG says. Posties and couriers signing for things themselves is common, getting the wrong address is not.

Basil · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 March, 2017, 02:21:38 pm »

I never seem to have to sign for tracked mail. Postie just puts it through the letter box. Suits me.

On one occasion, I was out emptying the dog. Mrs B was WFH and heard movement in the kitchen so she called out her surprise that we were back so quickly and then found a postman setting a large parcel on the kitchen top.

Jaded · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 March, 2017, 03:55:09 pm »

Disgusting!

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 March, 2017, 05:38:39 pm »

Had he been watching 2girls1cup?

toontra · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 March, 2017, 06:39:16 pm »

Update - I've had an email from the CE of Royal Mail, Moya Greene (or a minion). They are apparently taking it very seriously.

I completely understand that some people find this arrangement convenient, particularly if their sorting office is a way away, but in cases like mine it can be disastrous and makes a nonsense of bothering with (and paying for) signed-for delivery.

hellymedic · « **Reply #9 on:** 17 March, 2017, 07:37:42 pm »

RESULT!

We never found out what happened to our hygrometer calibration kit that never made it from West Hampstead. It was signed for...

woollypigs · « **Reply #10 on:** 17 March, 2017, 08:19:07 pm »

Yes I agree that this is not on.

Though the postie often do it here. OK we live in a small town and I stick out like a sore thumb especially when walking the dog. Often I walk past the postie while going out, his and our route and times often join up.

noisycrank · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 March, 2017, 02:33:14 pm »

I think more than dismissal is potentially on the cards

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/26/section/83

Just saying

matthew · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 March, 2017, 04:53:31 pm »

where as I regularly get parcels for $housenumber Woodpecker close delivered to $housenumber Woodcock Chase. yes the first four characters of the postcode are the same but the last two are very different.

The latest was hermes who had dropped said parcel over the side fence into my back garden and put a slip through my letterbox.

caerau · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 March, 2017, 05:06:57 pm »

Pfft, you were lucky to get a slip. I once waited ages for a book to be delivered. Eventually complained to Amazon who claimed it had been delivered. But they ordered me a new one anyway.
I then discovered it had been just chucked over the side gate by my friendly postie - only discovered this accidentally as after a week or so I happened to go through that way - the book had been soaking in the wet for more than a week.
Naturally I pointed this out to both the post office and Amazon. Amazon quickly sent the new one with no extra charge and claimed off the post office.

When the new one came....

... well let's just say I was wise to it that time

Sometimes they're just in the wrong job

CAMRAMan · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 March, 2017, 05:42:10 pm »

Just to clarify (as an ex-Postie): There are several different services: 1) Royal Mail Signed For; 2) Royal Mail Tracked - No Signature & 3) Royal Mail Tracked - With Signature.

Anything requiring a signature MUST be signed for by the addressee or a member of their household. If a postman/woman is caught forging a signature s/he is in deep shit. Royal Mail Tracked No Signature items can be posted after being scanned if they fit the letter box; that is the only such service that can be posted without a signature.

I was sometimes asked to continue the previous postie's 'service' of signing for things on people's behalf, but always refused. They always looked very put out, but it simply wasn't worth risking my job for.

Whilst we're here; never assume that the SIgned For service is any more secure than normal 1st or 2nd class mail. It goes through the same system as ordinary mail and can, therefore, be lost just as easily.

toontra · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 March, 2017, 06:38:33 pm »

Quote from: CAMRAMan on 31 March, 2017, 05:42:10 pm

Just to clarify (as an ex-Postie): There are several different services: 1) Royal Mail Signed For; 2) Royal Mail Tracked - No Signature & 3) Royal Mail Tracked - With Signature.

Anything requiring a signature MUST be signed for by the addressee or a member of their household. If a postman/woman is caught forging a signature s/he is in deep shit. Royal Mail Tracked No Signature items can be posted after being scanned if they fit the letter box; that is the only such service that can be posted without a signature.

I was sometimes asked to continue the previous postie's 'service' of signing for things on people's behalf, but always refused. They always looked very put out, but it simply wasn't worth risking my job for.

Whilst we're here; never assume that the SIgned For service is any more secure than normal 1st or 2nd class mail. It goes through the same system as ordinary mail and can, therefore, be lost just as easily.

Thanks for the insight CAMRAman.

Interesting that some posties (like you) refuse to do this on principle. Yes, my letter was tracked/signed for, and I hear what you say about it not being the best way to transport valuable documents - will remember for next time.

The crazy thing was I was waiting in specially to receive it just feet away from where he was, but the muppet didn't look at the house numbers, signed himself & put it through the wrong door! When I asked him where it was he became extremely aggressive & threatened to block all mail to my house because I said I could prove he was lying to my face - great big hairy lies with bells on (a mysterious blond woman called Karin who rode off on a bicycle seconds after signing his machine!).

That's what really pissed me off - his lies and his manner.

hellymedic · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 March, 2017, 08:43:10 pm »

Oooops!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-39458595

rr · « **Reply #17 on:** 01 April, 2017, 12:21:03 am »

just to clarify, signed for, tracked etc are handled in the same way as ordinary mail until the final step when they are scanned and signed. Special delivery is separately dealt with all through the sysem.

T42 · « **Reply #18 on:** 01 April, 2017, 08:37:16 am »

Quote from: hellymedic on 31 March, 2017, 08:43:10 pm

Oooops!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-39458595

Another reason to always put the seat down**. Mind you, it'd take a determined postie to get a parcel into our cludge, he'd have to climb two stories and stand on the neighbour's roof to have a chance ot a shot.

**apart from encouraging biofilms.

CAMRAMan · « **Reply #19 on:** 01 April, 2017, 01:08:53 pm »

In my time at Royal Mail, the vast majority of people I worked with were very dedicated & could recite postcodes for the whole of the town and identify Granny Pickles' arthritic scrawl on a xmas card down to an individual property. The small minority, however, were unashamedly roguish & extremely hard to dislodge from their jobs.