Robert Devereux, a 45-year-old taxi driver from Southport, sent silver bullion to a dealer in Blackpool on June 9 using Royal Mail Special Delivery. He paid £32.95, including an extra £10 for enhanced compensation covering a declared value of up to £5,000.
The bullion was placed in an "industry standard" brown padded envelope, fully sealed with brown parcel tape and marked "fragile", according to Mr Devereux. He said the parcel also complied with Royal Mail's maximum weight limit of 20kg.
Parcel arrived damaged
The parcel arrived the following day inside a Royal Mail "Our sincere apologies" damaged parcel bag. Mr Devereux claims the recipient told him a 1kg hand-poured silver bar, worth around £2,500, and a 10-ounce silver bar, worth around £500, were missing.
The bullion dealer opened the package under CCTV and compared the contents with the inventory Mr Devereux had supplied, confirming the bars were no longer inside.
Claim rejected
Mr Devereux submitted a compensation claim. Royal Mail initially said enquiries were continuing while checks were carried out with its National Returns Centre, but later rejected the claim.
In an email seen by the ECHO, Royal Mail said the contents should have been placed "in a strong rigid container and surrounded with enough cushioning material (5cm minimum) to prevent it moving within the packaging". It added that "sending the contents in a large padded jiffy envelope would not be adequate".
Driver's response
Mr Devereux strongly disputes that conclusion. He told the ECHO: "They're happy to sell you the premium service and take the insurance payment, but when something goes wrong they look for loopholes."
He added: "They're blaming the packaging, but if it wasn't packaged correctly, why did they accept it in the first place?" Mr Devereux said he declared the contents when posting, and staff were aware the parcel contained precious metals. He also questioned why a damaged Special Delivery parcel continued through the postal network instead of being returned to him.
Investigation and next steps
He said: "I thought everything was covered by CCTV and tracked all the way through the system. I don't understand how something like this can happen without anyone being able to explain it."
Mr Devereux described the claims process as "stressful", saying he spent hours on hold and called two or three times a day without updates. In a later email, Royal Mail confirmed it had recorded the details and would continue searching, but added: "With respect to compensation, our decision is final and will not be changed."
He has since escalated the complaint to Royal Mail's Postal Review Panel and begun a claim through the small claims court to recover his losses.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "We take the loss of any item in our network very seriously. In this case, we carried out a thorough investigation but were regrettably unable to locate the missing silver bullion. Parcels are moved, sorted, loaded and unloaded several times during their journey, using both machinery and manual handling. This can involve movement, pressure and contact with other parcels, so they need to be securely packaged to prevent the contents being damaged or falling out. We reviewed Mr Devereux's compensation claim and concluded that the packaging used was not sufficient for the items inside. The case has since been referred to the independent Postal Review Panel."
