ROYAL Mail has apologised to schoolboy Joseph Thomas-Trickett for refusing to give him a parcel containing a Chelsea football shirt.

The package, addressed to Joseph, was being delivered to the home of the seven-year-old’s grandmother Marilyn ‘Polly’ Trickett but nobody was home to receive it.

A slip was left asking them to pick up the shirt from Royal Mail’s Dorcan depot.

Polly went to pick up the parcel with her grandson, last Friday, but she wasn’t allowed to take it, despite having her passport, two letters proving her address and a bank card.

She was told by the depot manager to show a photographic driving licence, despite this not being stated on the slip or Royal Mail’s website.

The organisation has acknowledged this was wrong.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “In this case, our colleague believed that correct Identification had not been presented and was unable to release the item. We sincerely apologise to Mrs Trickett and her grandson for any inconvenience and frustration caused.”

Joseph now has his black away strip, with the name of Brazilian footballer David Luiz on the back, after collecting it on Monday..