What are the Laws regarding retaining mail addressed to someone else ?

I have just recently sent a parcel to someone and afterwards found out they have now moved so the address was incorrect. I have found out who signed for the parcel at the address. I have waited a couple of weeks and they have not returned it to me even though my name and address details were on the back of the parcel. I am not covered by the postal insurance even though it was sent by Special Delivery as according to the post office it was delivered to the correct address on the parcel.



Since the parcel was addressed to someone else are they allowed to open and keep it? I always thought that mail was protected and that it was illegal to open something not addressed to you.? please could you give links to information given as I need to know where I stand by law to try and retrieve the parcel. Many Thanks in advanceWhat are the Laws regarding retaining mail addressed to someone else ?
The Royal Mail only have to deliver it to the address given, and in this case obtain a signature for it. That's as far as their liability goes.



The Postal Services Act 2000 says that"A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him."





In this case, though, it seems that a charge of theft is appropriate.




Keeping a parcel, etc, which is clearly meant for someone else is theft. That it was delivered there makes no difference at all.



Someone receiving someone else's mail by accident should either pass it on to the owner or return it to the Post Office.



First you need to contact the address and ask them to return the parcel. If they do not do so you could contact the Police and report it stolen.What are the Laws regarding retaining mail addressed to someone else ?
As you have posted this with stamps this becomes the property of the Queen, so you can now go to the police and they should take a statement from you,and pursue as to where the parcel has gone
It's illegal to open post not addressed to yourself. Fact



What they do with it is up to them. They don't have to do anything with it and could possibly even charge you for storage.What are the Laws regarding retaining mail addressed to someone else ?
I attach a link to a previous question, in case it is of use to you. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind鈥?/a>

This is clearly a case where the Post Office feel that they have discharged their duty fully in delivering the parcel to the address given. They are under no obligation in the circumstances to make sure that the person signing is the addressee. This is, therefore, a matter for the police, as the person signing could not possibly have been under any misapprehension. Sometimes in the case of a house under multiple occupation a person might possibly make a mistake, but having discovered that this is a mistake, the parcel should have been returned to the post office as clearly being intended for another person.




The law is not as clear as one might hope. The wording 18 USC sec. 1702:



Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.



It seems that once the letter is delivered "to the person to whom it was directed", all bets are off. Whether to interpret the address as the "to the person" or the name, unclear.



State laws may be different.

black ops zombie maps

pontoon boats