Post service was hardly first class

Just before Christmas, when the postal services were all rushed off their feet, they could find time to write and deliver a notice to me to let me know someone had not paid the postage required for a Christmas card and that they required me to pay the 50p postage plus a £1 handling fee.

On Monday, December 31, it was my best friend's birthday and I posted a card with a first class stamp and neatly wrote out his address in large capitals, including the postcode, together with a further polite "first class" reminder at the top left hand corner of the envelope.

I posted the card at 10am on Saturday, December 29, at a post box showing a collection at 11.30am on Saturdays.

To my utter amazement, disgust and disappointment I have found out the card was delivered on Thursday, January 3.

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Print voucher

A LA CARTE MENU ALWAYS AVAILABLE :)

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Valid until: Monday, May 27 2013

And this being at a time when the postal services were no longer under any pressure.

As I had paid for a first class service which I did not get, can I now send the postal services a card requesting compensation for breach of contract and lack of service?

Perhaps the customer services department would like to advise accordingly.

Art Zarb, Oadby.

Where have all the urban foxes gone?

Have Leicester and Leicestershire County councils carried out a secret cull? My wife used to feed four, sometimes five, foxes every night for years and they used to visit around the same time every night. Some of these were different generations of the same family but about 10 months ago they stopped coming.

Seems even stranger because for the last few nights over Christmas we have been visiting friends and relatives in the city, returning home in the early hours and unusually we did not spot one fox. They used to be everywhere in the early hours.

Also, there seems to be very little evidence of fox visits, such as rubbish bags ready for collection still intact and no foxy smell in the early morning. Have other readers noticed anything untoward? Would Leicester or Leicestershire Council like to reply to either deny or confirm if a secret cull has or has not been carried out?

J Hanley, Wigston Magna.

I wasn't surprised the road collapsed between Somerby and Newbold due to tunneling by badgers. We live in the city and badgers have lived in the garden of an empty property for several years. About six weeks ago they began building a new sett in the open part of this garden. This tunnel is heading towards our private road and the activity is unbelievable for the time of year. The pile of soil and bricks gets bigger on a daily basis.

Our worry is the dustbin lorry uses this road and I dread to think what could happen if the road goes under the weight of these vehicles. We have had support from the Badger Trust and city council, but it is not easy to solve this difficult problem. It is now the closed season and badgers cannot be moved now until July. If the council has found a way to get round these rules we would be very interested to hear about it.

Mrs Phyllis Green, Leicester.