Fury at Royal Mail over shocking compensation offer to mum whose son’s ashes were lost in post

ROYAL Mail told a mum whose son’s ashes were lost in the post that she could not have compo — as they were worthless.

Heartless officials insisted their £20 maximum payout didn’t apply as the remains had “no intrinsic value”.

To add further insult, they also saw fit to tell the woman her 409g package was 359g more than the postal limit for human ashes, meaning it should be “prohibited from being sent”.

The grieving mum, who asked not to be named, lost her son to suicide aged 27 two years ago.

She now lives in Somerset but wanted him to be buried near to where he grew up in Sussex and so posted his ashes First Class to her friend.

But when the urn failed to arrive, she contacted the postal service, which admitted it had been sent to the wrong address.

It said it can “only assume” a label from another parcel somehow got stuck to the box.

Three months after complaining, the mum of six got a letter from Royal Mail saying: “There is compensation available for the loss, but this is a maximum of £20 for the intrinsic value of the content, but there is no intrinsic value to someone’s ashes.”

The mum told the Sun: “Royal Mail have no compassion at all. No money could replace my son’s ashes. They were priceless.

“I just want to know what happened to them.”

Royal Mail did send a £50 cheque as a gesture of goodwill.

And a spokesman said: “We are truly sorry for the loss of this important item. We did everything we could to try to locate it but sadly without success on this occasion.”