In the end after trying various UK suppliers, mainly RC model shops I managed to track down the exact battery required and it looked like I would have to import them from China myself. The only problem is nobody was prepared to import them in to the UK. Anyway by pure luck after modifying my search criteria I managed to secure some on Amazon, only snag they would not be delivered till the end of June. Yesterday the camels must have made it along the Silk Road and they arrived and were delivered to by my favourite courier (not) - Hermes.

Now the irony of this situation is that the year before I bought one of those emergency battery power packs, the type used to charge up phones and tablets, for a friend and could not get anyone to legally deliver it, including Hermes. The restricted items list that RM and couriers have just seems to be an arse covering policy throwing the onus on the customer because they are obviously not enforcing it and they must know that these items are still being shipped, mobile phones just for a starters. So for 99.9% of the time people are shipping restricted items until eventually some depot or a van goes up in flames and for some unfortunate sap the **** will hit the fan.

Back on the batteries, I know LiPo batteries can set on fire and there are flameproof containers available. My question is why cannot delivery services have these fitted to vans where clearly marked items can be placed. I for one would be happy to pay a bit extra for the facility and to cover additional insurance costs and lets be upfront about these things rather than making criminals of us all because we have to surreptitiously pass of dangerous items as something else?

Richard