Royal Mail stamps on saucy postcard firm

Bamforth - which publishes the cheeky cartoon cards that are a familiar sight on seafronts across the UK - applied to have 10 of its pictures printed as a customised “Smilers” sheet by the Royal Mail.

But only three of the 10 were considered suitable.

Smilers are personalised stamps created by the Royal Mail for firms and individuals from submitted images which can be used to send letters, just like any other stamps.

Bamforth said it had carefully planned its Smilers submission and brought in postcard dealer Gary Worsnop to select 10 of the company’s 45,000 images to represent each decade from 1900 to 2000.

Bamforth chairman Ian Wallace said: “The Royal Mail will be making money this spring and summer delivering the very postcards they are objecting to.

“It is censorship gone mad. I am going to appeal against their small-minded decision.”

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Smilers allow customers to personalise their post by combining one of their own photos with a Royal Mail stamp.

“There are a number of restrictions on images which can be used on Smilers stamps, including images which may be deemed offensive or depict full or partial nudity.

“If any customer is unhappy with Royal Mail’s decision regarding their application for Smilers we would of course be happy to discuss this with them directly.”