IN reply to Nancy Dyson regarding the Royal Mail, I, too, have had letters delayed in the post.

I posted a card to my niece in Portland before the noon collection of Saturday, May 8 from the Bilford Road post box, in the hope that it would arrive on Monday, May 10, in time for her birthday the next day.

On the evening of Tuesday, May 11, she phoned me to thank me for the present that was sent to her from Plymouth. I asked her what she thought of my card and she replied "what card"?

It was then I realised the card had not arrived. In fact, it arrived on Thursday, May 13.

Now, I asked myself why it took five days with a first class stamp, when as a 13-year-old in 1940 I was able to send Christmas cards to my relations in Torquay, Paignton, Newton Abbot and Bovey Tracey and they arrived within 24 hours.

And that was by steam trains from Plymouth during the war.

So what has happened to the Royal Mail in the last 64 years? To me, it is much more expensive and poor service. Has the Royal Mail got an answer to this?

N M DUNKLEY, Worcester.