A MAN who received more than 50 'junk mail' letters in two weeks has urged people just to bin them.

Keith Hartley, 63, of St Michael's Court, in Blackburn, was sent the pile of letters offering him credit cards and prize draws, completely unsolicited.

All the mail was addressed to him personally and Mr Hartley brought the stack of envelopes into the Lancashire Evening Telegraph offices to show his frustration.

He said: "Even the postman was fed up of posting them!

"I would warn other people if they get any of these letters just to bin them. I've had letters from all over the world, from Canada and Australia.

"They have gone completely over the top with me."

Mr Hartley is a residential caretaker and has stopped even opening the unsolicited letters he gets.

He said: "I am thinking of sending it all back so they have to pay for the postage. I don't even look at it now, just sling it.

"I wish they would stop sending them out. It's only costing them money for the postage and the administration of it."

But officially junk mail, known as direct mail, is not illegal.

A spokesman for the Post Office said: "Direct mail is mail as far as we're concerned. We are a carrier of mail and organisations pay for us to deliver mail. As long as we we can do that then we deliver it.

"We only ever don't deliver mail perhaps on the advice of the police or the Home Office."

Jo Barkworth, principal trading standards officer for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, confirmed that the authority do get complaints about direct mail.

She said: "We get all sorts of complaints.

"A lot are about prize draws where people are led to believe they have won a prize but when you read the small print it's only a chance to win."

She added: "Don't send any money."

But 95 per cent of direct mail can be stopped by registering with the Mailing Preference Service. Contact them on 08457 7034599, via the Internet at www.mpsonline.org.uk, or write to Mailing Preference Service, FREEPOST, 29LON20771, London, W1E 02T.