Boy receives first birthday card nearly nine years late after Royal Mail blunder

Alfie Wilson was left stunned when his dad Richard received a surprise postcard from Royal Mail telling him they had a card that didn’t have a valid stamp on it

A young boy was shocked to receive a first birthday card – nearly nine years late.

Alfie Wilson’s dad Richard received a surprise postcard from Royal Mail telling him they had a card that didn’t have a valid stamp. So he paid a £2.50 fee to have the card delivered – and was gobsmacked to discover it wishing his now nearly ten-year-old son a happy first birthday.

The 57-year-old from Reading, Berkshire, said his son was elated to receive the card – but even happier when he got a £10 from Royal Mail as an apology. Transport modeller Richard joked that his son could be the first child to ever open a card for their first birthday and be able to read it.

And he added that when he told his sister, Sally, about the discovery, she joked that he had ‘probably thought I hadn’t bothered’ to send a card for Alfie’s first birthday. Richard, a dad-of-two, said: “It was probably about two weeks ago when I got a postcard through the letterbox from Royal Mail.

“It’s the sort you get when they can’t deliver something for you. It was undelivered because it didn’t have enough postage – I had no idea what it could be. So I paid the £2.50 and it came a day or two later. I could see it was for my son, and that it was in my sister’s handwriting. She lives in East Yorkshire.

“When Alfie came home I gave him the card. He opened it up and it was a little rabbit holding a gift, and it said, ‘Happy first birthday’.” Initially, Mr Wilson had thought the letter had been delayed from Alfie’s ninth birthday last October. He said: “My first thought was that my sister had got the wrong card.

“But then I saw it said: ‘To Alfie, lots of love on your 1st birthday. From Auntie Sally and Uncle Pat x’. I thought it had got lost for six months – but it had actually been lost for eight and a half years! We saw there was a ‘stamp not valid’ sticker on it – but it would’ve been valid at the time.”

The card had been sent by Richard’s sister Sally back in October 2015, with even Royal Mail admitting they had no idea where the card could have been hidden in the intervening period. Richard said: “Eight-and-a-half years it had been lost somewhere. It has even survived Covid and suddenly decided to turn up. This must be the first time a child will open their first birthday card and be able to read it.

“I spoke to my sister about it and she said, ‘I bet you thought I hadn’t bothered’. She has sent cards to him every year since. Goodness knows what happened to it. It has probably just been lying around on the floor somewhere in Yorkshire. Who knows where it has been.”

One of Mr Wilson’s friends, who works for Royal Mail, encouraged him to complain about having to pay for the late card. He wrote to the postal service on X, formerly Twitter, saying he was ‘puzzled’ to receive the postcard and insisting the stamp – of the late Queen Elizabeth II – would have been valid when it was first sent in 2015.

Royal Mail has now refunded the family £10.80 for the card as well as sending a book of eight first-class stamps – and a £10 cheque to Alfie as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. Richard said: “It more than makes up for the cost. Alfie thought it was very funny. He was surprised but he thought it was funny to get a first birthday card when he’s nearly ten. And he was thrilled to get £10, so he’s very happy.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said the company couldn’t speculate on where the card has been all these years. They said: “We deliver billions of letters successfully every year. Unfortunately, on this occasion the customer did not receive this high standard of service, we have discussed it with them and rectified the situation. We cannot speculate on where the card was before it was delivered.”