Royal Mail loses grieving mother’s son’s ASHES and says she won’t get compensation because ‘they’re not worth anything’… then hands her £50 as a gesture of good will

A grieving mother has now been left mourning the loss of her son’s ashes after Royal Mail lost them in the post and told her she wouldn’t get compensation.

The woman’s son died two years ago from suicide at the age of 27 and she had wanted him to be buried near where he grew up in Sussex.

His urn was posted First Class to a friend from her current home in Somerset but the distressed mother contacted the postal service when it failed to arrive.

Royal Mail admitted the ashes had been mailed to the wrong address but said the maximum payout did not apply as the remains had ‘no intrinsic value’.

They also told the woman her 409g package was 359g more than the postal limit for human ashes and so should be ‘prohibited from being sent’, The Sun reports.

Royal Mail said it could ‘only assume’ a label from a different parcel had managed to get stuck on the box.

Three months after complaining, the mother received a letter from the service stating ‘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’.

Speaking to The Sun, the distraught mother, who did not wish to be named, accused Royal Mail of having ‘no compassion’ adding ‘no money could replace my son’s ashes – they were priceless’.

Royal Mail sent a £50 cheque as a gesture of goodwill and added: ‘We are truly sorry for the loss of this important item’ (file image)

She stated she simply wished to know what had happened to the lost urn.

Royal Mail sent a £50 cheque as a gesture of goodwill and added: ‘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.’

In December last year, it was claimed Royal Mail postal workers were being told by higher-ups to ‘fake deliveries’ so their bosses could hold onto bonuses.

Lower-rung employees alleged they had been ordered to record parcel deliveries as ‘inaccessible’ even if they were never attempted.

The allegations were made after several postal workers came forward, with some saying they had been asked ‘three or four times’ in the past month to comply.

The workers claimed that was a ‘culture of greed’ in the higher ranks of the firm, with bosses eager to make the most of bonuses that can total up to £5,000-a-year.

Postal minister Justin Madders said he was ‘disturbed’ by the allegations and called for an investigation into the claims.

Royal Mail insisted the claims were ‘nonsense’ when contacted by MailOnline.

The accusations were made by postal workers who spoke anonymously to The Telegraph.