Royal Mail delivers such a sorry bunch

For it was, in fact, quite the reverse. The box - marked first class mail and delivered last Thursday morning, April 21 - contained a bouquet of white lilies for his partner, mother-of-three Christine Monger.

And it should have reached her on April 3 - Mothering Sunday.

Mr Lovegrove, of Chantry Avenue, said: “Christine’s son and daughter in the UK, Dave and Steph, had arranged for the flowers to be sent to her as a Mother’s Day gift, and they had told her to expect them.

“But when they didn’t arrive she pinned a note on the door asking for them to be left, even if we were out. They eventually turned up last Thursday, more than two weeks late, and as you might imagine, were by then only fit to be thrown straight onto the compost heap.

“It was bitterly disappointing for both her and her children, as family events are particularly important to Christine and she feels very let down by the Royal Mail.”

The flowers had been despatched in good time by Charity Flowers Direct, a company working in conjunction with Guernsey Flowers Limited, which donates 15 per cent of the order price - not including postage or VAT - to one of more than 350 charities of the customer’s choice.

The Channel Islands based enterprise, whose bouquets retail for around £24 and which had sent the flowers in a presentation box by first class mail, had no comment to make.

Despite having full details of Mr Lovegrove’s complaint placed before it on the same day the wilted flowers were delivered, and a subsequent telephone enquiry on Tuesday, the Royal Mail’s south east regional press office had offered no response by the time the Observer went to press.

PICTURED: The sorry-looking flowers