Postman in Italy found with 400kg of undelivered mail

A former postman in Italy is facing criminal charges after police found 400kg of undelivered mail hidden in his Turin home.

The 33-year-old failed to deliver post for three years, “telling police it was because his salary was ‘too low’”, according to The Local.

The pile of undelivered mail concealed in his home “might never have been discovered had it not been for him being stopped by police during a routine road check”, the website reports.

The man was found in possession of a 20cm folding knife and further suspicion was aroused after the police saw 70 letters on the back seat of his car.

When they attended the man’s house they found 40 further boxes of mail including private correspondance, bank statements and bills.

“I wasn’t paid enough and so I quit,” the man is reported to have told the authorities. He “now faces charges of theft, misappropriation of correspondence and for carrying a weapon”, reports The Guardian.

Italy’s “postal service is fairly unreliable, and the case is not the first of its kind”, adds the paper.

Earlier this year, a 56-year-old man from Vicenza was arrested after he tried to recycle more than half a tonne of undelivered post. Police were called in when “workers from a recycling plant were sent to empty the garage and found 43 yellow plastic postal containers stuffed full of letters, bills, bank statements and even electoral pamphlets dating back to 2010”, Reuters reported at the time.

Failure to deliver post in Italy carries a prison sentence of up to one year.