Sisters' plea to bin hoax chain letter

Sisters Jessie and Ellen Howard, aged 11 and 10, contacted the Evening Advertiser after a Royal Mail note was posted through their letterbox in Risingham Mead, Westlea.

It asked the pair to make a trip to the distribution centre in Westlea to collect a letter which could not be delivered because no stamp was on it.

As a result their mother, Fay, had to pay £1.20 in charges.

But excitement at receiving a letter quickly turned to disappointment when they realised it was a hoax letter.

Since then the girls have had another notice drop through their door, which they ignored.

And somehow two more letters have been successfully delivered without stamps.

The letters begin by stating that children had started the chain back in 1996 and if it continued to the end of spring it would smash a world record.

The anonymous author appeals for youngsters under the age of 16 to send copies to seven friends.

And it carries the threat that mail bosses will track down the person who breaks the chain and pass details over to Guinness World Records.

It says a stamp is not required, but Royal Mail has assured the Advertiser that freepost does not apply for these letters.

Jessie is angry that the hoaxers are deliberately targeting people of her age. She said: "A friend sent me the first one. It's not fair and I would ask people not to pass them on and throw them in the bin."

Fay added: "My kids love getting post. I am disappointed for them they thought they were going to get into the Guinness Book Of World Records."

Sam Fay, of Guinness World Records, said the best place for the letters was the bin.

She added: "We are getting up to 20 calls a day and 50 letters a week from angry parents. The letters have nothing to do with us it is a hoax."

It is thought the chain loosely stems from a national appeal in the 1980s when people were asked to send compliment slips and get well messages to a boy who was seriously ill with cancer.

Kevin Shoesmith