I was threatened with court for delivering post

A West End theatre producer has been threatened with prosecution after he delivered letters that were "abandoned" in his building.

Anthony Field CBE, who lives in the Barbican, claims he took matters into his own hands after three postbags were left in the lobby of his building for more than seven hours.

The former Arts Council of Great Britain finance director said his porter told him Royal Mail had been informed the bags were lying closed with the post undelivered.

However, the porter was told postmen were not allowed to work after 2pm, and that the bags would be collected and the post delivered the following day, said Mr Field, 83.

So the theatre company boss, who has produced shows for both the West End and Broadway, decided to distribute the post himself. As he began to open the first sack, a postman turned up to take the bags away.

Mr Field, whose company's London productions include the hit God Of Carnage and more recently Butley, starring Dominic West, said: "When I told him I was going to deliver the mail because they could not, he said it was illegal to open the bags and I could be prosecuted. I told him to do what he liked."

Mr Field delivered to the first 13 floors of his 40-storey block, which he said took him 20 minutes, but when he returned the other two bags had been taken away. He said some letters he posted were marked "urgent", including requests for blood donors to visit their nearest hospital.

"I work in an office with about 10 different companies. When the postbags get delivered to us, we are expected to sort through them ourselves and get it to the various companies. I don't understand why this is fine in the West End but a criminal offence where I live."

The Royal Mail said: "We are investigating what happened as a matter of urgency. We apologise to customers who experienced disruption to their deliveries yesterday."