A holidaymaker was told to fly back to South Africa to complain about his lost parcel of souvenirs.

Barry Whitford, 37, was astonished when Parcelforce admitted the package of antiques, which he posted 6,000 miles to Brighton, had been handed to a stranger outside his home.

But he was horrified when he learnt the only way to launch a claim for compensation was to fill in a form in person at the original Cape Town office.

Special effects manager Mr Whitford, who lives in College Road, contacted Parcelforce Worldwide when his cast iron pot and brass lamps failed to arrive six weeks after his return in November.

After a three-week wait he was eventually informed the delivery driver had given the package to a man outside his house who promised he would drop it in.

The driver left the firm the following day. But worse news was to come.

Mr Whitford said: "I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"They said the claim needs to be made from the issuing office in Cape Town and it needs to be me to do it.

"The official line now is I can't claim unless I go back to South Africa.

"I'm devastated it has taken three weeks to find all this out. I am very angry.

"It isn't the money. It is the fact it took them so long to find out what happened."

Mr Whitford had been on holiday to South Africa with friends in November.

On December 19 he received a card saying Parcelforce had tried to deliver the package and to phone the depot to rearrange a time. Despite doing this several times theparcel never appeared.

Mr Whitford said: "After a dozen or so emails and phone calls I spoke to the assistant manager at the Redhill depot.

"They said it was supposed to have come back to them but they didn't have it. Eventually they tracked down the driver.

"His story is there was someone standing outside the building and he handed him the parcel on the understanding he would drop it in to me later.

"They admitted they gave it to a stranger in the street and drove off.

"They admitted they had done this but they are not going to pay out unless I go back to South Africa and make the claim. It's absolutely crazy.

"It has all been a bit fraught and I hope I never have to ship anything with them again."

Andy Frewin, external relations director with Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, said: "We have heard about cases like this before and think it stinks. When we take these cases up with Parcelforce there is a good chance we will get a result for the customer."

Mr Frewin said under rules drawn up by the Universal Postal Union people did have to claim in the country the parcel was sent from but he said Postwatch was pressing for change.

He added: "The South Africans did their job and the fault lies with Parcelforce. They should recognise that and pay compensation."

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail Group, parent group to Parcelforce, said: "The safety and security of our customers is always paramount.

"However, customers have complained when drivers have not left items of mail with anyone other than the recipient and in this incident the driver did what he thought was best.

"We now advise the customer to get in touch with the Redhill depot with details such as the type of insurance cover and documentation and we will look into the matter."