Postcard from Australia arrives in Kent 42 years after it was sent

The postcard was addressed to Steve Padgett and included a handwritten message from "Gerry"

A postcard from Australia has arrived at the house in Kent it was addressed to 42 years after it was sent.

The card had been posted from Sydney to a house in Westgate, near Margate, on 27 August 1981.

Samantha Williams, who now lives at the address in Elm Grove, said the postcard was "a mystery".

"We would love to find the man it was addressed to and give it to him," she said. "They were obviously good friends and it may mean a lot to him."

The postcard was addressed to Steve Padgett and included a handwritten message from "Gerry".

The card had been posted from Sydney on 27 August 1981, to a house in Westgate

Ms Williams said one of her children initially thought it was a Christmas card after picking it up.

"It had been sent from a man called Gerry in Sydney and addressed to Steve Padgett or Padge, who we believe lived here with his parents in the 1980s," she said.

"It's only got a 32 cent stamp on it, so maybe it's been stuck at a sorting office in Australia or in the UK for more than 40 years."

The postcard features a depiction of Sydney Opera House.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "It is difficult to speculate what may have happened to this item of mail, but it is likely that it was put back into the postal system by someone recently, rather than it being lost or stuck somewhere.

"Royal Mail regularly checks all its delivery offices and clears its processing machines daily.

"Once an item is in the postal system then it will be delivered to the address on the card."

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