[Graham]

Kev,
I have considered that there may well have been some kind of “ real accident or incident” because I still cannot perceive how “normal handling” even with a bit of rough treatment could have caused the loss of the external box.
However Colin Has told me that as a “shop keeper” he has seen an increase in parcel damage in general over the last few months, which I find quite alarming. The communication problem is nowadays always an issue with whatever service you use. Sadly they don’t like to talk to customers now.

Gerry also raised the idea of personal handover, and yes I would like that to happen for some of the exchanges for rounds and when possible I like to personally bring the cars too. But trying to plan a schedule is often not compatible with regional hosts availability. Of course we can perhaps do this with longer gaps between rounds. Also there are some long distances between some hosts, and personally speaking at my age I don’t want to be driving for 3 hours both ways to meet someone on the road.