Opening a wrongly addressed letter

pineapple

Gers wrote: »

Many years ago I was told that Royal Mail deliver to the address rather than a person.

I received a letter recently - right address wrong person. I would have opened it as it was from a retailer who I've bought from and I thought it might just be an error on the envelope. The postie said 'That isn't you is it' and whisked it away.

JReacher1

50Twuncle wrote: »

That's with your permission - what would YOU do - if you discovered that a family who lived the other side of you were (for example) stealing electricity off you - by Tee'ing off your feed cable ?
Would you just let it slip or would you report them ?
What's the difference - I pay for both !!
What about water - why not let them use your supply as well ?
unless you are on a meter - it won't cost you any more ....

Your examples are different because if they were stealing my electricity then my bill would go up which would be annoying. As long as there is no cost to me or deterioration of service then I do not really care what they do.

pineapple

Mojisola wrote: »

Not just unlikely but impossible because it's not against the law.

Yes and no
Section 84 of The Postal Services Act 2000 states that it is illegal to open someone's post, or delay it reaching the owner.
The Act says: "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."

But if you open it in error and not with malicious intent it should be fine.

pineapple

DCFC79 wrote: »

Opening post for someone else isn@t illegal, what I understand is illegal is when I for example would get a loan/credit card/finance etc using said letter (say a council tax letter or a utility bill ) in someone elses name.

The Postal Services Act 2000 states that it is illegal to open someone's post, or delay it reaching the owner.
The Act says: "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."

But if you open it in error and not with malicious intent it should be fine.

societys_child

It's also been said that once pushed through the letter box, it is no longer in the postal system as it has been delivered. In that case the The Postal Services Act 2000 would no longer apply.

50Twuncle

JReacher1 wrote: »

Your examples are different because if they were stealing my electricity then my bill would go up which would be annoying. As long as there is no cost to me or deterioration of service then I do not really care what they do.

But any illegal things (eg downloads or worse) done using your connection can hold you liable in law !!

JReacher1

50Twuncle wrote: »

But any illegal things (eg downloads or worse) done using your connection can hold you liable in law !!

I do not believe that is true. It is the person who conducted the illegal activity who is liable in law.

50Twuncle

JReacher1 wrote: »

I do not believe that is true. It is the person who conducted the illegal activity who is liable in law.

The person who's connection it is can be held liable !!
Anyway - can you be certain that your neighbour is not dealing drugs or into child !!!!!! or worse?

unholyangel

societys_child wrote: »

It's also been said that once pushed through the letter box, it is no longer in the postal system as it has been delivered. In that case the The Postal Services Act 2000 would no longer apply.

Wrong offence, they were quoting this offence:

(3)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.

While you are thinking of this offence:

(1)A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he—
(a)intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or
(b)intentionally opens a mail-bag.

A packet thats been incorrectly delivered to you would be inconsistent with it still being being transmitted by post.

However OP has reasonable excuse, so has nothing to worry about on that front.

50Twuncle wrote: »

Router logs and the fact that the phone was sitting there in my connected items list (with the idiots name on it !!)
This was prior to me setting up a MAC based wireless network access rule - I had assumed that the password would be good enough !!

He's smart enough to hack your internet but not smart enough to hide his name? Doesn't sound like he has any knowledge of what he's doing and therefore, your network probably isn't as secure as it could/should be. If your network uses WEP or WPS then thats likely your weak link. If not then the remaining possibility would be having a password thats predictable (either because its too much like a word or because it follows an algorithm).

As for checking your credit history - nothing will show up even if he is using your address for credit because credit history is per person, not per address. Open the letters and inform them they have the wrong address and (if you want to) give them the correct address for him.

50Twuncle

unholyangel wrote: »

Wrong offence, they were quoting this offence:



While you are thinking of this offence:


A packet thats been incorrectly delivered to you would be inconsistent with it still being being transmitted by post.

However OP has reasonable excuse, so has nothing to worry about on that front.



He's smart enough to hack your internet but not smart enough to hide his name? Doesn't sound like he has any knowledge of what he's doing and therefore, your network probably isn't as secure as it could/should be. If your network uses WEP or WPS then thats likely your weak link. If not then the remaining possibility would be having a password thats predictable (either because its too much like a word or because it follows an algorithm).

As for checking your credit history - nothing will show up even if he is using your address for credit because credit history is per person, not per address. Open the letters and inform them they have the wrong address and (if you want to) give them the correct address for him.

I use WPA
Thanks