I thought that I would share with you a little story that shows perseverance and tenacity in the face of adversity.

I am a member of Arsenal Football Club. When we reached the Carling Cup final I told myself that I must remember to apply for my tickets for the final. I sat down on Friday 9th Feb at 1900 and the site told me that the last entry for Final Tickets applications was 1800 hrs! I was gutted. However, Arsenal Football club emailed me on Tuesday 20th Feb with news that I was still able to buy tickets. I was elated and quickly ordered them. The tickets were to be sent Royal Mail Special Delivery to my office for Thursday 22nd Feb. However, my office has moved address since I registered as an Arsenal member so the Royal Mail special delivery was diverted from my previous office to the new one. I was told that the tickets would be with me by 12 noon on Friday 23rd of Feb. Noon soon became 1pm and at 2pm I rang the track and trace department who told me that the package had been delayed and was due for delivery on Monday 26th Feb.

Clearly this would not do, the Cup Final was Sunday 25th Feb, I needed the tickets NOW!. I pleaded with the track and trace department who told me that the package may be at my local depot. I raced down to the E14 postal depot on Friday afternoon. When I told them the situation they told me that the package was not with them. It was in the area sorting office which has no public access. I was devastated. To know that my ticket was in the Royal Mail system but not reachable was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. I returned to work dejected and hugely disappointed. I rang the Millennium Stadium to see if they would reissue the ticket. Their automatic telephone answering service is a maze of dead ends and voicemails. After about one hour of calling and attempting to speak to a human being I finally spoke to someone in the ticket office who told me that under no circumstances would they reissue any tickets for the Carling Cup Final.

I tried my luck with the Arsenal Box office. To say that they were less than helpful would be a huge understatement. They did not care that a fan was in trouble and needed help. "Once you have a track and trace number sir, it is the Royal Mail's problem and not ours" was my favourite line. I hung up the phone, resigned to the fact that I was not going to the cup final. I was not going to pay ££££s from a tout to go to the match. I had tried everything and on Friday evening had absolutely nothing.

On the off chance that the situation would have changed on the morning of Saturday 24th Feb I decided to go back to the local Royal Mail Depot in E14 when it opened at 7am. I explained the whole situation to the clerk who explained to me that the item could not be there because they only deal with post for which delivery had been attempted and not packages that had not been out for delivery yet. My package was still in the system and I was told again that I would have the package on Monday morning. Any usual person would have accepted this and gone home. But I plugged away a bit more and demanded to know how the Royal Mail system worked. Reluctantly and after much negotiating the clerk told me that the mail is sorted at Bromley by Bow Sorting Office, which has no public access. I asked him for the address and he would not give it to me. Most people would have given up but I pressed him and eventually he drew me (a very bad) map. On leaving the depot the words "but it has not public access and you will not get past the security guards" were ringing in my ears.

I drove around Bromley By Bow... through all the industrial estates… trying to find the right place... just as I was about to give up and go home... I found one that housed the East and North London Royal Mail Centre. The trading estate had its own security. I drove up to the gate where I said I was visiting Royal Mail. The security guard asked to see my pass... I explained I did not have one and he told me that only staff and contractors were allowed in the estate and guess what... there is no public access. After a good 20 minutes of explanation and schmoozing... he rang the Royal Mail and spoke to a Site Manager and they told him that no personal callers were allowed at that site. I pleaded to see him and eventually the security guard let me through. I drove through the trading estate and drove up a road to find the largest Royal Mail building I have ever seen in my life. I learned that there were over 1000 people working in that sorting office! At the gatehouse I explained the situation to the manager. He told me that "we don't give post to the public at this facility". Then he told me that my item was not there! He told me it was back at the E14 postal depot! Can you imagine my frustration. I had been up at 0600 and now it was 0900. I had been trekking round the east end of London in search of my Cup Final tickets, only to be told at my last port of call that they were not there. I asked the manager kindly to check for me. He told me that he should not do it because this is against standard protocol and they do not offer post to the public at this site. Reluctantly the guy got on the phone and checked the system with the track and trace number that I had. After about 30 minutes of phone conversation someone emerged with a small package. Sir, this is your package. I could not believe it. Three and a half hours of driving around London to find my tickets had culminated in an absolute result. I opened the package and showed the site manager why I was so eager to get the item. I celebrated by dancing around the gatehouse, much to the amusement of the Royal Mail staff. I had done it, when everyone told me that I would not get the tickets and could not get them. Here I was relieved and ecstatic that I had the tickets in my hand... now I could go to Cardiff the following day.

I am forever indebted to the staff of the Royal Mail who I was able to sweet talk and that eventually got me my tickets from a place not accessible to the public. And a big thumbs down to the Millennium Stadium who would not reissue the tickets, and a bigger thumbs down to Arsenal who were less than helpful when I told them the circumstances I was in.

A victory for persistence and tenacity. A shame Arsenal could not do the same and beat Chelsea, but at least one Gooner who might not have made it was there to back the boys.