EVERYONE dreads getting final demands on the doormat but one unfortunate Ipswich woman seems to get more than her fair share.Eileen Debenham, of Hatfield Road, wrote to the Evening Star after receiving a red letter from the Inland Revenue dated October 8.

EVERYONE dreads getting final demands on the doormat but one unfortunate Ipswich woman seems to get more than her fair share.

Eileen Debenham, of Hatfield Road, wrote to the Evening Star after receiving a red letter from the Inland Revenue dated October 8.

It arrived on October 16 and detailed the interest she would be charged for not paying her bill.

Eileen claims that she never received the first bill and that several others have arrived late.

She said: "It seems to be happening quite regularly.

"Recently, for example , I received a reminder to pay for a skip which I had recently – I only got the bill yesterday.

"You only get one post a day now and they can't even get that her on time.

"My post can arrive anytime between 8am and 1pm, I never know when it will be here.

"When I phoned the Royal Mail to ask them about first class post and they said that it is expected to arrive within four days – the only way to guarantee next day delivery is to send it recorded."

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said that Mrs Debenham's mail had been delivered later during the last few days because the regular postman had been off sick and colleagues had had to cover that round after their own.

He said that with regard to the bills arriving sometime after the post date that Mrs Debenham should call the Customer Services team as if she still had the envelopes an investigation could then be carried out into the problem.

The spokesman also added that more than 92 per cent of letters posted first class reached their destination on the following day and the other eight per cent the day after that.

He said it was not the case that first class post was expected to arrive within four days.

n. The customer services number for the Royal Mail is 08457 740740.