Glandwr
Banned
For anyone who uses this service beware. I have used it occasionally for over 40 years all over the world without hassle until this week.
It a system that has worked for well over a hundred years but would now appear broken since Royal Mail was privitised. You could get your mail sent to what was called a poste restante. If a letter was addressed to.
Your Name
Poste Restante (hold until collection)
Central Post Office
Any city
Any country
When you got to that city you would go to the central post office, show your passport and sign for and pick up your mail. Worked for me dozens and dozens of times. More often than not the service is free although I paid a small fee last time I picked something up in France last year.
I am touring Greece at the moment and knew that I would be spending some time in Athens so arranged for my daughter to send some important mail there including my new credit cards to replace the ones running out this week.
Have called in to PO here every other day for a week now, no mail! It should have arrived 3 weeks ago. Phone daughter digs out proof of postage and tracking number. Back to PO still no mail, will they look up proof of postage number? Eventually they did.
Royal Mail, presumably to save pennies, had sent it by courier rather than national postal services across Europe. Eventually I found the courier office on an industrial estate. "We won't deliver to post offices, we will only deliver to the addressee personally and they alone can sign. So we have sent it all to our HQ in Germany for return to sender"
It took all of my self control to smile and back slowly out of the door
Dick
It a system that has worked for well over a hundred years but would now appear broken since Royal Mail was privitised. You could get your mail sent to what was called a poste restante. If a letter was addressed to.
Your Name
Poste Restante (hold until collection)
Central Post Office
Any city
Any country
When you got to that city you would go to the central post office, show your passport and sign for and pick up your mail. Worked for me dozens and dozens of times. More often than not the service is free although I paid a small fee last time I picked something up in France last year.
I am touring Greece at the moment and knew that I would be spending some time in Athens so arranged for my daughter to send some important mail there including my new credit cards to replace the ones running out this week.
Have called in to PO here every other day for a week now, no mail! It should have arrived 3 weeks ago. Phone daughter digs out proof of postage and tracking number. Back to PO still no mail, will they look up proof of postage number? Eventually they did.
Royal Mail, presumably to save pennies, had sent it by courier rather than national postal services across Europe. Eventually I found the courier office on an industrial estate. "We won't deliver to post offices, we will only deliver to the addressee personally and they alone can sign. So we have sent it all to our HQ in Germany for return to sender"
It took all of my self control to smile and back slowly out of the door
Dick