Lawyer's letter in Korean journey

The letter made an 11,000-mile round trip for 27 pence

A solicitor has been describing how a letter he sent to Coventry was returned to him after an 11,000 mile round trip to Korea.

Alan Turle, 52, sent the letter containing a £2,000 cheque from Bournemouth, Dorset, on 7 May to pay a firm of funeral directors 150 miles away in Coventry.

But two months later the letter, with its contents intact, was returned in the post to the Richards and Morgan solicitors' firm with the words "Missent to Korea" stamped on it.

Mr Turle said he finds it hard to understand how it happened.

Cheap travel

"I was both surprised and disappointed.

"Disappointed that the funeral directors had not been paid, which put us in a bad light, but surprised that, for 27p, my little envelope had made an 11,000 mile return journey.

"It's amazing really, I wish I could travel that cheaply.

"I would like to know how the Royal Mail managed to confuse Coventry with Korea."

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said that the letter might have become stuck to an item sent to Korea.