Postman refused to hand over parcel unless it was signed for by baby

A pensioner has complained that a postal worker refused to hand over a parcel to him unless his nine-day-old baby granddaughter signed for it. John Berry, 70, said he was startled when he was told by the worker at a sorting office that he could not pick up the package on behalf of his new-born granddaughter, Amber.

The retired aerospace engineer cycled to the depot in Cheltenham, Glos, after a postman dropped a card through his letter box to say a package was waiting for the infant. But when he arrived he was told that only Amber could sign for it because her name was on the parcel.

“It was absolutely ridiculous,” said Mr Berry, who has lived in the same house in Cheltenham for 43 years. “I was frustrated because I had many forms of identification on me, including my driving licence, which proved I lived at the address on the parcel.


Photo from here.

“He still wouldn’t allow me to take the package claiming that Amber needed to sign for it herself. I told him she was a baby but he kept persisting.” Mr Berry’s wife, Hazel, 65, a civil servant, said that when she complained, Royal Mail cited data protection law. “This country has gone stupid, there is red tape everywhere," she said.

Amber was born weighing 6lb 10oz to the Berry's son Matthew, a builder, and his wife Charlotte. The package contained a gift from a friend in Australia.

A Royal Mail spokesman said that as John Berry was not the named person on the package, or the card, he would have needed to produce formal identification that had both his name and address on it, such as a driving licence, passport or bank book. A signature would not then be needed.