A BANBURY mum is furious after she paid extra to send a parcel by recorded delivery, only to find the contents were not insured when she tried to claim.

Linda Hayward sent birthday and Easter gifts to her sister and nephew in Scotland, but it was only after the parcel got lost that she was told that cash and store vouchers would not be reimbursed.

Mother-of-two, of Prescott Close, Banbury, had used the Royal Mail’s recorded delivery service and on posting the item was asked if the value was more than £39.

She said no, paid the extra sum for special delivery, and expected her sister to receive her £20 voucher in time for her 30th birthday, and nephew £10 for Easter.

But after a week her sister had not received the items and when Mrs Hayward checked the tracking number she was given it said the parcel was still in Banbury.

Because of Royal Mail rules she could not lodge a complaint until 15 days after the item was sent and had to wait 30 days for a response and spent hours on the phone.

Retail assistant Mrs Hayward said: “I received a letter and six first class stamps as compensation that the parcel had gone missing.

“It said in these circumstances they were not going to compensate me up to the value of £40 because it included cash and vouchers and I could be saying there was more in there than there was.

“I was given the wrong information at the post office.

“If they had said cash wasn’t covered I would have sent it first class.

“I sent another item further into Scotland and that got there the following day.

“I think it’s disgusting the amount of hours I have spent on the phone and now I’m out of pocket by £40.

“I’m just furious about it.

“I want to bring this to people’s attention.

“We have done it for years and never been told we were not covered.

“The only difference at all is you pay for a signature at the other end. I was under the impression I was paying extra money in case it got lost and it was covered.

“Why did someone not say cash and vouchers were not compensated.

“If they had said that I would not have paid the extra couple of pounds.

“I wanted to ensure it would get there.

“It was important to us that she got it and obviously she didn’t.

“Her birthday was in March and here we are in May and she has still not got anything from us.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We apologise for this incident, but unfortunately compensation is not available for items of monetary value sent using the recorded delivery service.”