A BOURNEMOUTH pensioner says he feels "cheated" after Royal Mail lost a parcel worth more than £200 and offered him just £34 in compensation.

Raymond Spencer, 71, paid £9.35 to return more than £200 worth of unwanted vehicle parts to a company in Plymouth.

But after Royal Mail lost his package they offered him just £34 by way of an apology.

The company says the amount is the maximum they can offer Mr Spencer and that he should have paid extra if he wanted to enhance the level of compensation.

But Mr Spencer, of Donoughmore Road in Bournemouth, said: "The simple facts are that I have paid to have a parcel delivered and it is their fault that they lost it.

"Two hundred pounds isn't a fortune but it is two weeks' pension and I do feel very aggrieved. I feel that I have been conned. It's not a fair situation."

He enlisted the help of Postwatch, which wrote to the Royal Mail requesting it apologise and compensate Mr Spencer.

But in what it describes as "an extreme gesture of goodwill", the Royal Mail sent him a cheque for £34.

A spokesman for the company said: "The matter has been thoroughly investigated by our customer services team but unfortunately we have been unable to trace the car parts sent via the Royal Mail standard parcel service by Mr Spencer.

"Royal Mail handles 80 million items of mail each day, therefore it is not possible to track individual items of mail and thus it is very difficult togive an explanation as to why this item did not arrive.

"We have made enquiries with our return parcels department, which receives all undeliverable items of mail, unfortunately to no avail.

"Although I can sympathise with Mr Spencer's predicament he has been given the maximum compensation payable by the service used.

"Using our standard parcel service he could have enhanced the level of compensation, up to a maximum of £500, by paying an additional fee at the time of posting."