Royal Mail: investigation launched after video shows staff ‘eating hash brownies’ at work - what happened?

An investigation by Royal Mail has been launched after a video appeared to show office staff to be high after seemingly accidentally consuming brownies laced with cannabis from an unclaimed package.

This is everything you need to know.

What happened?

The video, which has been shared online, showed an image of the box, marked “Edibles by Pablo Chocobar”, which is a reference to the Colombian drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar, who died in 1993.

The caption read: “Today almost all the posties in Clapham accidentally ate hash brownies and I had to pick them up one by one because they were so high.”

The video then showed one postman looking dazed and struggling to walk, with a voice off camera saying: “You’re just really high.” It then cuts to the same postman sitting in an office chair mumbling to himself.

The postman then says that he had four of the brownies, to which the person filming and another colleague burst out laughing.

A caption from the video also said, “One guy said he was walking to a door and thought he was walking forever”, with laughing emojis.

The video added: “We had a delivery of them with no return address and the house was empty and they were in our office for a month so we opened em and they got given out.

“They were eaten between 5.30/7.30 AM ahahahah.”

The video ended with an image of the postman looking completely out of it, with the caption: “Say a prayer for [postman’s name] right now, hopefully he is asleep or he is singing with unicorns.”

What has Royal Mail said?

According to some reports, some of the staff involved in the incident have been suspended, with Royal Mail considering disciplinary action.

A statement from a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail expects the highest standards of behaviour from our people at all times.

“We are taking this matter very seriously.”

They added: “We have commenced an investigation, which will determine whether any further action, including disciplinary action, might be taken.

“We are also reminding all staff at the delivery office of the correct procedures for dealing with items with no address for delivery or return.”

Official Royal Mail protocol states: “If there’s no return address or franking mark on the item, we’ll send it to the National Returns Centre (NRC).

“We’ll then open the item to try and find a sender’s address. If we do, and the contents aren’t newspapers, magazines or advertising materials, we’ll then return to the sender.

“If we can’t find a return address, items may be held for one month (depending on item type and/or value) pending a customer enquiry.

“Items not claimed within one month will be disposed of. This includes items containing vouchers/gift cards.”

What’s the response online been like?

While Royal Mail are taking the matter at hand very seriously, many online have seen the funny side of the situation.

One person tweeted: “LEAVE THE STONED OLD POSTMEN ALONE @RoyalMail”

Another wrote: “Damn if they lose their jobs I’ll be the first to contribute to GoFundMe, absolute legends.”

“This is the funniest news story of the year so far. I really hope Royal Mail don’t punish these employees, it’s hardly their fault!” tweeted another.

Another Twitter user wrote: “Fair play lads… I hope @RoyalMail understand the light relief this has given everyone. These guys have probably worked through the pandemic, let them live a little #royalmail.”

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