Royal Mail told a grieving mother her son’s ashes were worthless after they were lost in the post.
Post officials refused to give the distraught mum the maximum £20 compensation payout, saying the remains had ‘no intrinsic value’.
The extraordinary communication came after the mum lost her 27-year-old son to suicide two years ago.
She was living in Somerset at the time and had posted his urn First Class to a friend in Sussex.
When the urn failed to turn up, the panicking mum, who spoke to The Sun, was told by Royal Mail that it had been mailed to the wrong address.
The postal company then said the maximum compensation payout for a lost parcel did not apply as the package had ‘no intrinsic value’.
In a letter to her three months after she complained, Royal Mail said their £20 compensation is only available ‘for the intrinsic value of the content, but there is no intrinsic value to someone’s ashes.’
Is £50 enough compensation for lost ashes?
- Yes, Royal Mail went beyond their usual £20 payout
- No, £50 is far too low for precious ashes of a loved one
Officials added they could ‘only assume’ the parcel was given the wrong label.
The distraught mum was also told her 409g package was 359g more than the postal maximum for human ashes, which is meant it should be ‘prohibited from being sent’.
Royal Mail did eventually send a £50 cheque as a goodwill gesture.
The mum told the Sun: ‘Royal Mail have no compassion at all. No money could replace my son’s ashes. They were priceless.
‘I just want to know what happened to them.’
And a spokesman said: ‘We are truly sorry for the loss of this important item. We did everything we could to try to locate it but sadly without success on this occasion.’
Have you lost something priceless in the post?
Email: Luke.Alsford@metro.co.uk
Royal Mail hands out either the lower of the market value of the lost item or £20, as well as postage refund, when they judge the item has ‘intrinsic value.
Royal Mail only compensate postage costs when the item has ‘no intrinsic value’.
From today a first-class stamp will cost £1.70 – more than double the 76p it cost in 2020.
The cost has risen eight times in the last five years, while a second-class stamp is also rising by 2p to 87p.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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