A FORMER mayor has spoken of her disbelief after being told by Post Office staff that her Christmas cards were too small to send.

Yvonne Veakins said after buying stamps for the Traidcraft, Cafod and Sciaf charity cards she had been stunned when Thirsk Post Office refused to accept responsibility for them as they measured 3.5ins by 3.5ins and 3.5ins by 5ins.

Mrs Veakins, who has 16 grandchildren and previously worked in the British Embassy in Kenya, said a Post Office employee told her the cards would "get lost" in her bag and that she would be taking a risk if she posted them herself as they may not reach their destination.

She said: "I was told to go over the road to the postbox - it made me so angry, I am nearly 80.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing as it would be the same person would be picking up the bag of letters that was behind the counter and emptying the postbox.

"I thought, if they are giving me stamps for the cards, doesn't that show they are accepting responsibility for them?"

A spokesman for the Post Office initially said he believed the cards had not been accepted by the counter staff as Royal Mail had a minimum size of letter they could accept as they could get lost in the sorting machines.

The Royal Mail dismissed this suggestion, saying if a card was too small for its sorting machines, staff would sort them by hand.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "There no minimum size that we accept.

"We take on thousands of staff at this time of year for that very reason."

The Post Office spokesman said after further investigation, it appeared the confusion had stemmed from there being a recommended minimum size for international post.

He said: “We would like to apologise for any confusion caused around minimum sizes for Christmas cards accepted at the Post Office counter.

"This was caused by a miscommunication and we are happy to confirm that there is no minimum size for domestic letters.

"This has now been cleared up and we are ready to welcome any cards or letters with a stamp and address.”