Main areas affected include Ostiense and S. Paolo

A Roman postman faces criminal charges after being found in possession of almost 4,000 undelivered letters and packages, some of which date back to 2012.

The discovery came to light when police stopped the man's private vehicle at Piazza di Porta Maggiore during a routine check in the early hours of 20 May. The officers discovered 836 packages and letters – both regular and registered mail – along with around 1,000 daily newspapers and some 2,000 subscription magazines, all of which are now being delivered to their recipients in Ostiense, S. Paolo, Trastevere, Monteverde and EUR.

The postino initially said the mail belonged to him but later confessed that he would have burned it as it had become “too much.” Police are now trying to ascertain if other mail had previously been hidden or destroyed by the postman who also faces an investigation from Poste Italiane.

The incident comes exactly a year after police on Rome's Corso Italia found an abandoned stolen car containing four sacks of 1,000 letters, all of which had postage stamps affixed but had not been franked by the post office. In March 2013 police arrested a postman in Subiaco, to the east of the Rome province, for failing to deliver mail over a three year-period, in order to return home early.