large="ghstamp.jpg" small="ghstamp2.jpg"/>STAMP collector Paul Evans is seeking a Royal Mail inquiry after a set of postcards with first edition stamps were returned to him incorrectly marked and damaged.

Mr Evans, 44, of Dixon Way, Calne, has been collecting first day covers since 1977 and normally when they are returned they have a local post mark recording the date sent.

He sent an envelope with a set of ten stamps celebrating the Queen's golden jubilee, and a set of ten stamped postcards packed in a plastic protective envelope.

But they were returned loose, ripped and smudged and had postmarks from as far away as Edinburgh ruining his collection.

"I'm furious, they're worth absolutely nothing to me now," said Mr Evans, who is calling on the Royal Mail to investigate the issue.