Video shows tens of thousands of birthday cards being sent to Bedford NHS hero Captain Tom

Royal Mail has to put in place special measures at its South Midlands Mail Centre to manage the tens of thousands of birthday cards being sent to Captain Tom Moore from across the UK.

To deal with the volume of mail addressed to the NHS hero from Marston Moretaine, engineers at the mail centre have reprogrammed their sorting machines to reroute all of his mail to a dedicated collection box.

So far, more than 25,000 cards have been processed for Captain Tom, with tens of thousands more expected over the coming weeks.

And Royal Mail will also be issuing a special postmark wishing Captain Tom a happy 100th birthday. The postmark will appear on all stamped mail across the UK starting next week.

David Gold, head of public affairs at Royal Mail, said: “What Captain Thomas Moore has achieved is truly phenomenal, reflected in the affection shown for him across the world. As Royal Mail works to keep the country connected during these times, we are honoured to be delivering so many cards to Captain Tom for his 100th birthday. We would like to extend our own best wishes and congratulations to him from everyone at Royal Mail.”

Stephen James, plant manager at Royal Mail’s South Midlands Mail Centre, said: “The need to give Captain Tom his own selection on our letter sorting machine highlights just how much he has inspired the public with his efforts. None of the team have ever known one person receive so much mail. Everyone here at South Midlands Mail Centre wishes Captain Tom a very happy 100th birthday.”

Intelligent Letter Sorting Machines (iLSM) are responsible for sorting letters and cards at mail centres. Sensors read an item of mail’s address and reroute each individual item to separate collection boxes depending on their destination. At peak speed, an iLSM can process 40,000 pieces of mail every hour.

So far, Captain Tom has raised almost £28million by walking 100 laps before his 100th birthday for the NHS.