Somerset Royal Mail worker destroys rare set of stamps

An over-enthusiastic member of staff from Glastonbury at the Royal Mail has destroyed a rare set of stamps.

The envelope was sent from Switzerland and included a rare first day cover – when a stamp is issued and used on the first day of its existence.

Collecting first day covers is a popular aspect of philately and stamps marked in this way have enhanced value and collectability. Unfortunately for collector John Richard, from Glastonbury, his stamps arrived on Friday morning – complete with a Royal Mail special delivery sticker slapped right across them.

“I’ve been collecting stamps on and off since I was a kid,” Mr Richard said. “These were sent to me by a friend in Switzerland – they probably cost around £15 on face value, but obviously I’m not sure what the value would have been with the first day stamp on it.”

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To make matters worse, when Mr Richards took the envelope to the post office to complaint, an enterprising member of staff tried to peel the sticker away from the stamps – tearing some of them. And when Mr Richards asked for a complaint form to be sent to him on Friday, it still hadn’t arrived by Tuesday morning.

“Our usual postman is brilliant, but we’ve had a few bits of items going missing somewhere in the system, or turn up late over the years,” he said.

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the incident was being investigated by their customer services department.