Royal Mail insists it will keep fining innocent victims of counterfeit stamps

Cash Mail at the moment calls for that Royal Mail stops fining hundreds of harmless individuals with a £5 penalty for receiving mail with a counterfeit stamp.

We insist it accepts that as many as a million pretend Royal Mail stamps from China are flooding the market each week, and demand the rapid suspension of all penalties to prospects who’re despatched stamps with pretend barcodes.

Our name for a full inquiry is being backed by Liberal Democrats, who need the ‘ridiculous’ fines to be halted ‘till ministers have gotten to the underside of this’.

In the meantime, former Publish Workplace minister Paul Scully has additionally known as for an investigation to stamp out the fakes.

Mr Scully, the Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam, mentioned: ‘It doesn’t appear truthful that the tip person or recipient must be penalised for utilizing a stamp that that they had no concept was a counterfeit. 

What we want proper now could be an investigation into the place these stamps are literally coming from – the place the stamps had been bought.

‘Clients might help Royal Mail by sharing these particulars.’

Sarah Olney, Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park, mentioned: ‘It’s ridiculous to be penalising harmless individuals caught up on this mess.

‘Ministers must launch an investigation, together with questioning the Chinese language Embassy.’ 

We’ve been contacted by a whole bunch of people who find themselves livid that they’ve needed to pay penalties on playing cards and mail, with lots of them reporting that the high quality of £5 is price greater than the mail itself.

They’re outraged that they not solely purchased stamps from what they believed to be a legit supply, however that also they are accused of shopping for knock-off variations on-line.

Royal Mail says it believes the forgeries are being bought on-line or unwittingly by small outlets – some may even be sharing the premises with a publish workplace counter.

Beneath laws launched in 1989, outlets are now not required to purchase their stamps straight from Royal Mail and may as an alternative purchase them from wholesalers or on-line.

It’s understood that convincing copies bought for as little as 4p every are being bought by smaller retailers. Recognizing a pretend stamp will not be straightforward – but when it seems notably shiny, this may increasingly point out that it was printed on completely different paper utilized by a forger.

‘Safety ovals’ won’t be included on a pretend stamp, or else they could be put within the improper place.

Fakes stamps can even generally have fainter or inconsistent colors in comparison with these used on actual stamps.

A Royal Mail spokesman mentioned: ‘The mixture of recent barcoded stamps with added safety features, the surcharge, and Royal Mail actively working with regulation enforcement authorities has led to a 90 per cent discount in counterfeits.

‘We advocate that prospects solely buy stamps from publish workplaces and different respected excessive road retailers.

‘We advise to not purchase stamps on-line until from the official Royal Mail store.’

What are your rights in the event you obtain mail with a counterfeit stamp and Royal Mail calls for that you just pay the high quality? The Mail’s client lawyer Dean Dunham says the Royal Mail is entitled to levy these penalties.

Nevertheless, the recipient of letters or publish has no obligation to pay such a penalty until they wish to obtain the mail.

All will not be misplaced, because the Shopper Rights Act gives that merchants should solely promote items – on this case stamps – that they’ve ‘the precise to promote’, and that this may kind a time period in each client contract.

Right here, the Publish Workplace has bought pretend stamps to prospects, albeit unknowingly. It clearly had no authorized proper to do that, and this quantities to a breach of contract.

Because of this in the event you purchase pretend stamps from a publish workplace or some other dealer, then you’ll be entitled to a full refund.

Additionally, you will be entitled to the reimbursement of any related losses that you’ve got incurred, resembling paying Royal Mail penalties.