French postman took 13,000 letters home after failing to deliver
‘The accused admitted to storing mail that he had not delivered’, the prosecutor has said
The man admitted to taking home undelivered mail at the end of his shifts (image for illustration only, does not show the accused)
Oliverouge 3/Shutterstock
More than 13,000 undelivered letters have been found at the home of a former postman in France after he admitted to not delivering them all before the end of his shifts.
The accused is set to appear in court in Vienne in January 2025, after the ‘mountain’ of undelivered post was discovered in his garage. He is to be charged with “a breach of trust to the detriment of La Poste”, said the magistrate.
The man had been working on a La Poste CDI (permanent) contract for a year, based in L’Isle-d’Abeau (Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes). He had been hiding the letters for eight months, he has said.
“The accused admitted storing mail that he had not delivered” because he was unable to deliver them all before finishing his rounds, said Vienne Deputy Public Prosecutor Delphine Moncuit to France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on July 23.
He is accused of failing to deliver post for eight months without informing his employer.
The mail was discovered after La Poste lodged a formal complaint. A disciplinary process is underway into how the situation occurred.
The man now faces a fine of up to €45,000, and three years in jail.
At-home searches
The man’s home was also being searched as authorities were worried about a ‘katana’ Japanese sword that he was also keeping in his garage.
Before working for La Poste, the accused had been a delivery driver for the Services-Courrier-Colis (parcel delivery) branch in the town of Bourgoin-Jallieu, which also distributes packages and letters in the area.
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La Poste said that he had also worked as a stand-in postman on rounds within a radius of “around 50 kilometres around Bourgoin-Jallieu”.
The undelivered mountain of mail is now finally set to be delivered to its rightful recipients, along with a letter of apology for the delay.
Read also: La Poste hit by IT bug: parcel collections and some letters delayed
