HOW TO USE POSTE RESTANTE (U.K.)

Poste restante is a free service where you can forward mail including parcels to a post office in the UK which you will then collect at a later date.
I used Poste Restante to forward supplies and clothing to six different Post Offices between Land's End and John O'Groats. If you want to use Poste Restante in the UK but don't know how to set it up, here's how I did it:


First you need to know four things: 1. The address of the Post Office you would like to use. If you're sending letters, any Post Office should accept your request. If you're sending a parcel, you will need to select a larger Post Office which has the space to store it. Select the largest Post Office in the area you intend to visit. This is important. Note: you will need to pay regular postage charges on whatever you send. 2. You need to give them a date on which you expect to pick up your mail. If you cannot give a precise date, give a range, preferably no more than two weeks. 3. You need a return address. This doesn't necessarily have to be a permanent address. But you will need an address. 4. You need a reason why you want to use Poste Restante. Mine was LEJOG. Next, write to the Post Office and explain your intention. Here's a copy of my letter: From: Sam Walker Address Line 1 Address Line 2 Town/City Postcode Country (if outside UK) To: The Manager, Inverness Post Office, Queensgate. Dear Sir/Madam, This is a poste restante enquiry. I will be passing through Inverness between 4th– 15th September 2017 in my bid to walk from Land’s End to John o’Groats and your post office is directly on my route. It would be extremely useful if I could pick up a poste restante parcel containing maps and essential supplies from your post office. I will mark the parcel as POSTE RESTANTE and leave a return address with my name on it (as above). I will also bring with me Passport ID, proof of address and this letter, should you return it. However before I do that I need to know if you will accept poste restante in the form of a parcel. I have enclosed an SAE for this purpose. Please confirm that you will accept my parcel and sign in the space provided below. Many thanks, Sam Walker. Tel: -------- Email: -------- Web: https://2017lejog.blogspot.co.uk Print the letter and sign it. Seal your letter with a stamped self addressed envelope and send it to your Post Office of choice with the correct postage. Wait for a reply. These returned quicker than expected. I contacted eight Post Offices. All of them replied by letter apart from one, which emailed me. Seven of them accepted, one declined. I ended up using six. Before you send your letter or parcel to the Post Office, write POSTE RESTANTE as the first line of the Post Office's address, and underneath the Post Office address, write TO BE COLLECTED BY [YOUR NAME]. And include a return address on the rear of the letter or parcel. I took proof of identity and the returned letters with me when I collected my parcels. I'm glad I did this because the individual counter staff members in four out of the six post offices I'd arranged Poste Restante with had not heard of Poste Restante and had no idea who I was or what I wanted! I think this was because I had my parcels sent ahead up to a week early. Post Office staff work different shifts and the staff who collected my parcel were not necessarily going to be working the counter on the day I arrived. In those cases, I gave them the letter signed by the manager and the counter staff escalated my enquiry. In all cases my parcel was waiting for me as expected. If I was to use this service again, I would send a second letter directly to the manager whose name I now had at the Post Office of my choice, two or three days in advance of me picking up my mail. This would remind them that they were about to receive a Poste Restante parcel and that I would be due to collect it between such and such a date as we had previously agreed.