A grandmother has accused "jobsworths" of charging her more than £1 to receive a birthday card.

Helen Bailey, of Wheatfield Road, Stanway, said she was horrified when asked to pay £1.06 to collect a 60th birthday card.

The card, which measured 9.5cm by 29.2cm, was sent with a standard first class stamp from a Royal Mail post box in Marks Tey last week.

But when it was delivered, Mrs Bailey was asked to pay an extra sixpence postage, plus a £1 handling fee.

The part-time healthcare assistant, who has four children and five grandchildren, said: "I mostly felt upset for the person who had sent the card as they would have popped it in the post and expected it to arrive.

"It was a standard birthday card, it's just it was an oblong shape instead of a square.

"I have had much bigger cards than this posted - one was three times the size.

"I just think there must have been a jobsworth working at the sorting office."

Royal Mail rules say standard letters and cards should not be bigger than 24cm by 16.5cm and not weigh more than 100g.

Those measuring between 25cm and 35.3cm are classed as a large letter and cost extra to post.

A Royal Mail spokesman said the charges were to protect the system from abuse.

He added: "Royal Mail does not make money from surcharging mail that is underpaid because the surcharge helps pay the extra handling costs for the item, which customers can choose to accept or refuse.

"The number of items wrongly priced is very small and people can visit their local post office or use our website to check the correct postage."