Mail delivery is off the rails

About 60 applications arrived in the bundle

The owner of a rural railway station house has told of his surprise at receiving dozens of travel card applications - 37 years after the line closed.

The bundle of forms made their way to the home of Paul Miller in the Northumberland village of Angerton, near Morpeth.

Although the address - Angerton Station House - still recalls its former function, the Morpeth to Rothbury line it once served was shut down in 1966.

Mr Miller, 48, a part-time lecturer, said he believed the applications were sent from Morpeth railway station in July to York but the package was not collected by the relevant railway company and went back into the Royal Mail system.

He said: "How on earth they have managed to address this package to a railway station which closed 37 years ago is beyond me.

It is quite amusing but I am flabbergasted at the overall incompetence Paul Miller

"We have lived here for 18 years and never before have we had any mail intended for the railway authorities.

"The package was addressed to Angerton Station, Hartburn and I have no idea where they dug that address up from.

"It is quite amusing but I am flabbergasted at the overall incompetence, firstly by the rail authorities for not collecting the package at York and, secondly, by the Royal Mail for returning it here.

"The package contains 50 or 60 rail card application forms with people's details and e-mail addresses and they must be wondering what has happened to them."

A Royal Mail spokesman said that the address on the package could not be found and it was undeliverable.

Internet search

It was eventually sent to a special sorting office in Belfast where staff try to find out where mystery postal items should go.

The word Angerton was discovered somewhere on a document inside the package and an internet search revealed 14 addresses with that name, one of which was Angerton Station House.

This appeared to be the right place to send travel card applications.

The spokesman said: "Royal Mail have pulled out all the stops to try and get the mail to where it should have been.

"We have done our level best and more than anyone else could have done."