Postal strikes have been causing disruption across the UK since August 2022. Many customers complained that they received their Christmas posts and letters much later than they thought they would, because of huge delays and backlogs owing to the strikes. However, this incident tops it all. A letter which was originally posted 28 years ago finally reached its destination in 2023, Metro reported.
Sixty-year-old John Rainbow received the letter which was posted almost three decades ago on Friday, January 13. When he looked at the strange letter, he was shocked to see a 25p Royal Mail first-class postage stamp dating back to 1995. The letter was posted from Bridgwater in Somerset and addressed to Valerie Jarvis-Read.
Mr Rainbow explained that the letter's recipient, Mrs Valerie Jarvis-Read, lived at his current home until approximately 2010. However, he believes she has died, and that's why her house was sold.
''It was for a previous resident of the house, they must've lived here at least 12 to 15 years ago. We opened the letter, had a look at it and thought 'blimey, this is a bit strange', then we saw the date on the letter which was August 3, 1995, and couldn't understand how it's suddenly just arrived," Mr Rainbow told Metro.
Despite the letter being decades old, it was in perfect condition. Curious to see what was inside it, Mr Rainbow opened the letter which was about a family dating back to the 1880s, childhood memories, and how the writer of the letter's children have grown.
A neighbour informed Mr Rainbow that Mrs Read was a navigator whose husband was a member of the Forces in Le Mans at some point in the early 20th century.
"I think she was an old lady when she was here. Our neighbours knew her. It would be nice to know the person who sent the letter has some relatives and for them to know it's finally arrived," Mr Rainbow added.
While the incident remains a mystery, a Royal Mail spokesperson said, "Incidents like this happen very occasionally, and we are uncertain what happened to cause this incident in this instance. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused."
