I have received a letter addressed to a Louis Robson at my address but needless to say they don't live here and never have done.

It is obviously a personal letter,not bumpf (sp?) as it's handwritten, in a small envelope and quite bulky.

Now being the helpful type I thought I'd find the correct address and drop it in but..... I've checked with the neighbours - no joy, looked in the phone book - no joy, checked the B4uSearch website all 124 names on the electoral roll - no joy.

My question is do I :-

a) Open it :wow: and try to contact whomever it came from but inbuilt principles and invasion of privacy make me a little reluctant to do this. ( general nosyness says otherwise :lol: ) ?

b) Hand it back to postman if and when I see him therefore putting it back in the hands of Royal Mail ?

c) Cross out address and state 'not known at this address' again putting it back into RM's hands?

The ideal scenario is that Louis Robson is a member of this forum, sees this and contacts me for a happy ending. Well maybe? :hihi:

Any other suggestions would be most welcome.

Sorry - this should have been in chit chat. My apologies. :blush:





Moved now - thanks.

Write "Not known at this address - return to sender" on the envelope. Put it back in a postbox and let the postmen sort it out.

Isn't it illegal to open someone else's mail?

I'm sure it is illegal to open it, and you've already gone out of your way more than I would have.

Of course, they can't return it to sender if it doesn't have a return address :/

Originally posted by tslogf74
I'm sure it is illegal to open it, and you've already gone out of your way more than I would have.

Of course, they can't return it to sender if it doesn't have a return address :/

the post office will probably open it and check for a return address.

Originally posted by Andy
Isn't it illegal to open someone else's mail?

Awwww spoilsports :wink:

Seriously thanks for the replies, it probably is illegal for me to open it, maybe RM have a database and will just keep sending it until it finds the correct one?

Royal Mail will open it to find out who sent it, and return it.

There's a massive warehouse in Belfast that deals with all the wrongly addressed mail.

Originally posted by Andy
Royal Mail will open it to find out who sent it, and return it.

There's a massive warehouse in Belfast that deals with all the wrongly addressed mail.

He beat me to it. The RM staff in Belfast are authorised to open it. It's illegal for you to do so.

Originally posted by Andy
Write "Not known at this address - return to sender" on the envelope. Put it back in a postbox and let the postmen sort it out.

Ok - will do this in the morning. Thanks. :thumbsup:

Wrote not known at this address on envelope and took it in to local sorting office as I was passing this morning.

Asked the question as to whether it was illegal for me to open it and the bloke said no it was entirely up to me whether I did.
He did confrim that it went to Belfast for them to sort out.

Not sure how true this is - I'm still inclined to think it's illegal, at the very least it's invasion of someones privacy.

Anyway it's now safely back in the safe hands of Royal Mail :heyhey:

Sorry Louis - I tried. ;)

my mum accidently opened a letter that was addressed to our house but a different name... turned out to be a court summons because said person owed over £30,000 of unpaid loan/mortgage or something in our address... got that sorted with the debt collectors telling them said person doesn't live here, and has never lived here in the past 30 years...

about 3 months later, another letter arrives to said person at our address... a cheque bounced back from the bank, with said person trying to pay £12,000ish into an account of a company whose address apperently is our house...

this time my mum went to the police, they're currently investigating it... but theres no way said person has a company in our address, as we live in a council house and you cant open a business in a council houses address for a start! :?

from now on I think we'll be opening any mail with our address on, our name or not!

Oops. Tis all in the timing. I think I know who Louis Robson is. He's an 11 year-old lad who lives on Greystones Road. If the parcel comes back to you PM me. I can get it to him and see if twas indeed his.

Originally posted by joyphil
Oops. Tis all in the timing. I think I know who Louis Robson is. He's an 11 year-old lad who lives on Greystones Road. If the parcel comes back to you PM me. I can get it to him and see if twas indeed his.

Oh Bugger :sad:

If it was his tell him I'm really sorry as I did want to get it to him.
If it comes back I'll PM you but hopefully Royal Mail will sort it out? :nod:

Cheers joyphil.

Originally posted by MysTique
Wrote not known at this address on envelope and took it in to local sorting office as I was passing this morning.

Asked the question as to whether it was illegal for me to open it and the bloke said no it was entirely up to me whether I did.
He did confrim that it went to Belfast for them to sort out.

Not sure how true this is - I'm still inclined to think it's illegal, at the very least it's invasion of someones privacy.

Anyway it's now safely back in the safe hands of Royal Mail :heyhey:

Sorry Louis - I tried. ;)

In English law if post is mis delivered or delivered after you have moved on it must be marked 'returned to sender' and handed back to the post office. If there is no sender address on the envelope the post office will open it to establish the sender's details.

To retain mail that is incorrectly sent to you is theft and punishable by imprisonment. As is interfering with the mail.

However, I know of no cases in which a person has been prosecuted for simply opening somebody's mail, without evidence of stealing something valuable or fraudulently using something in the mail.

**** the law - get it open - it could be cash or it could be something interesting. The law is only there to keep pussys in order. Real men flout the law at any given opportunity. Remember, I fought the law....;)

I would open it.
Far less hassle to all concerned. If it turns out to be junk mail then you just put it into the recycling. If it is something that you could help with then you might be able to help.

Originally posted by miniminch
**** the law
Depends how nice he is :heyhey: :o

Thanks for that Lickszz. I've been thinking about how I'd feel if the shoe was on the other foot so to speak, and decided that I wouldn't mind if someone opened it, if it got to me quicker or at all.

Anyway, it's back in the hands of RM now.

Louis Robson is my son (Unless there is another person with that name in Sheffield). [MOD: Personal details removed] The owner of the house he lives in is different to his, so the post office won't have much luck. Thanks for posting on the forum. I hope you haven't sent it back yet!

Just a thought, is it wise to put an 11yr old kids name and address on the forum!? :suspect:

Sorry - been offline for a while so only just caught up with this!


Originally posted by Tomloufra3
Louis Robson is my son (Unless there is another person with that name in Sheffield). [MOD: Personal details removed] The owner of the house he lives in is different to his, so the post office won't have much luck. Thanks for posting on the forum. I hope you haven't sent it back yet!

Hello Tomloufra3 and thank you for getting in touch.
Unfortunately, as Joyphil says, it's all in the timing and the letter was given back to RM on 17th June. :sad:
I would be interested to know if it has arrived yet?

I hope you don't mind but I requested that the actual address be edited out of your post for privacy reasons but I'm aware of it should the letter bounce back to me.

Welcome to the forum BTW - maybe you'll stay awhile? :)

Originally posted by Briano
Just a thought, is it wise to put an 11yr old kids name and address on the forum!?

I agree with you Briano - see action taken above :thumbsup:

i know its wrong to open other peoples mail, but on instances i have done it.

on moving into my first home there was mail addressed to the previous occupants still ariving, been only 19 at the time i asked my dad what to do with it and i showed it him.
he said it looked like a 'legal type' letter and then opened it.
good job, a debt collecting agency was coming round to reposese stuff from the house. which was now mine. had a nightmare sorting that mess. so any 'legal' looking letters i opened so that i could beat creditors away from my door. i didn't want baliffs turning up trying to reposese my stuff.

letters soon stopped untill a letter came from freemans (address on the back amberley street so i know it was from them ;) ) not looking on the front i opened it because i have a freemans account. only to find that the previous occupier had tried to open a freemans account using my address. they were attempting to commit a fraud! they could have rung up freemans, found out there account details had stuff delivered to an alternate address and done one with the goods!!!
i phoned the police and reported it too!

it was only because i had a freemans account and they dont allow 2 accounts at the same address, or i might have never known.

so bottom line is, if it looks iffy and it comes to my address i open it. if its personal it goes in the hands of rm

For anyone who's interested - a big document all about the post :) Can't see you being too bothered though lol

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmbills/054/00054--o.htm