Italian postman didn't deliver mail because salary was 'too low'
Just a few months after police uncovered the largest-ever hoard of undelivered mail in Italy, another rogue postman has emerged.
The 33-year-old from the northern city of Turin failed to deliver post for three years, telling police it was because his salary was "too low", so much so he quit the job last year.
But the 400kg pile of undelivered mail stashed in his home might never have been discovered had it not been for him being stopped by police during a routine road check. He was found in possession of a 20-cm folding knife while suspicion was aroused after police spotted 70 letters on the back seat of his car.
They then went to his home, where a further 40 boxes worth of mail, including bank statements, bills and other private correspondence, were found.
“I wasn’t paid enough and so I quit,” the man said. He now faces charges of theft, misappropriation of correspondence and for carrying a weapon.
In January, a 56-year-old was arrested after failing to deliver post for at least eight years.
Police found a 573 kilos pile - including telephone directories from 2013 and campaign letters from the 2010 regional elections, as well as stacks of bills, tax forms, bank statements and other correspondence - in a garage near his home in Breganze, Vicenza.
It emerged after volunteers at a nearby recycling centre noticed 25 yellow Poste Italiane boxes stuffed with old mail among the contents of another garage that had recently been cleared out. The garage had previously been used by the postman, which led police to check the contents of another garage he was known to have. They described it as the biggest stash of undelivered mail ever discovered in Italy.
In 2013 a postman on the island of Sardinia was found to have hoarded some 400 kilos of undelivered mail over four years. The "violation, misappropriation or destruction" of someone else's post is a criminal offence in Italy, punishable by up to one year in prison.
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The 33-year-old from the northern city of Turin failed to deliver post for three years, telling police it was because his salary was "too low", so much so he quit the job last year.
But the 400kg pile of undelivered mail stashed in his home might never have been discovered had it not been for him being stopped by police during a routine road check. He was found in possession of a 20-cm folding knife while suspicion was aroused after police spotted 70 letters on the back seat of his car.
They then went to his home, where a further 40 boxes worth of mail, including bank statements, bills and other private correspondence, were found.
“I wasn’t paid enough and so I quit,” the man said. He now faces charges of theft, misappropriation of correspondence and for carrying a weapon.
In January, a 56-year-old was arrested after failing to deliver post for at least eight years.
Police found a 573 kilos pile - including telephone directories from 2013 and campaign letters from the 2010 regional elections, as well as stacks of bills, tax forms, bank statements and other correspondence - in a garage near his home in Breganze, Vicenza.
It emerged after volunteers at a nearby recycling centre noticed 25 yellow Poste Italiane boxes stuffed with old mail among the contents of another garage that had recently been cleared out. The garage had previously been used by the postman, which led police to check the contents of another garage he was known to have. They described it as the biggest stash of undelivered mail ever discovered in Italy.
In 2013 a postman on the island of Sardinia was found to have hoarded some 400 kilos of undelivered mail over four years. The "violation, misappropriation or destruction" of someone else's post is a criminal offence in Italy, punishable by up to one year in prison.
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