Birthday gift arrives in Canada after 6,000-mile trip via Japan
A personal birthday present sent from a Shropshire businesswoman to her friend in Canada has finally turned up at its intended destination – after a mysterious 6,000-mile detour.
Margaret Rhodes, who runs Anchorage Care Group with her husband in Condover, near Shrewsbury, was left in shock after the Royal Mail online tracking device she was using to monitor her parcel said that it had ended up in Japan.
The £35 silver-plated engraved jewellery, complete with birthday card, had been posted by Mrs Rhodes on August 6 ready for her friend Cindy Mensies's birthday celebrations.
But the gift appeared to turn up on the wrong continent just five days later.
After contacting Royal Mail by telephone, she was told to keep her receipt for postage and send off a P58 claim form so that she could be fully reimbursed.
But now the parcel has turned up at its destination in Western Canada – and even arrived two days before Cindy's birthday.
Mrs Rhodes said: "The parcel has reached its destination and I'm absolutely amazed as I had given up all hope of it getting there.
"Cindy rang me and said 'you are not going to believe this but I've checked my mail box and it is there'.
"It has certainly been a lovely surprise and the fact it reached her by her birthday is even better.
"It remains a compete mystery how or why it ended up in Japan but if Royal Mail has looked into then I thank them very much."
She added: "Maybe somebody in their control centre spoke a bit of Japanese and sent it on its way again? I have no idea."
Royal Mail officials had said previously that it could not accept a claim for loss unless at least 25 working days had passed from the due delivery date.
Rhys Jones, a spokesman for Royal Mail, said today: "We are pleased the item arrived with the customer safely and apologise for any inconvenience caused."
New figures revealed this week showed that between April and June this year the company had delivered 94.5 per cent of first class mail on time in the SY postcode area, which covers Shrewsbury.
