Message in a bottle would have been better - The Sun

A GRANDFATHER has blasted Royal Mail after dozens of letters intended for his daughter in Australia were delivered — in BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, 9,000 miles away from its intended destination.

Frustrated grandfather-of-two Roy Froggatt, 70, started writing to daughter Sarah, 37, when she emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, eight years ago.

And, as Sarah lives in a town called High Wycombe in Australia's west-coast city, Royal Mail failed to notice it needed to go further than the High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, ENGLAND.

Astonishingly, all but ONE of the 30 letters from Roy were delivered to a woman in the local version of High Wycombe, despite Roy and wife Margaret plastering envelopes with air mail stickers, and highlighting the word "Australia" on everything intended for their daughter down under.

Sadly, this baffling continuous error from Royal Mail has meant Sarah and her son have missed out on many birthday and Christmas cards, and even a message of condolence intended to be read out at a funeral in Australia.

The written tribute penned by Margaret was for the funeral of a recently deceased cousin which has now been and gone without any sign of Margaret's sympathy card.

Roy, a retired bus driver, wrote to the Royal Mail chief executive two years ago explaining his problem and received a letter of apology and compensation. But his letters STILL fail to reach his daughter's address.

He said: "This all started eight years ago when we tried to send a birthday card to our grandson, Sean, and it never got through, and we had him on the phone crying that his grandparents had forgotten him.

"I estimate that it has happened up to 30 times since over the past eight years. Letters have ended up at an address in High Wycombe and the lady there has kindly forwarded them on."

Roy wonders how the mail company can get it so wrong, time and time again.

He said: "How is it that we can put a man on the moon but we can't get a letter to Australia?

"It's got so bad that the lady in High Wycombe now knows when my grandson's birthdays are."

Understandably at his wit's end, Roy exclaimed: "It's just sheer negligence, this isn't some Mickey Mouse company, it's the Royal Mail.