Mrs Jane Lelloitt, from Harewood Hill, was walking her Spaniel Molly this morning, when she found three large sacks of abandoned post on the corner of Baldocks Road and Woodland Way in Theydon Bois.

Many of the letters, dated April 23, are for addresses in Stapleford Tawney, and marked private and confidential.

She said: “It looked like rubbish, and I thought that’s funny, I wonder what it is? I looked a bit closer and realised it was post, just left in the street.”

The bags were found just metres away from a postbox, and contained highly confidential material.

She added: “who knows how long its been sitting there? Some of it is marked private and confidential and i’ve seen one letter from a hospital in there. I’d be so mortified if I knew my letters were lying out in the street for anyone to take. Its outrageous.”

“The Post Office make me so cross, they left some of their delivery carts tied to a tree at the end of the road and they were there for three months, when I phoned to ask why they were there they just weren’t interested.”

A Spokesman for Royal Mail confirmed that they would be investigating.

She said: "We would like to thank the customers for alerting us to the mail found in Theydon Bois. The mail has now been recovered and was for addresses in the Romford area. The items will be deliveried as soon as possible and we will of course be investigating the matter."

She added: "Incidents of this nature are very rare and Royal Mail has a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty and that stance is shared by the overwhelming majority of postmen and women who are honest and hardworking and who do all they can to protect the mail and deliver it safely."