Stephen Bowling, who works out of Lockerbie, successfully delivered a postcard from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands which was addressed simply to ‘Alan of Scotland’.
And the delighted recipient was Alan Hughes, who couldn’t believe the postcard actually reached him.
Explaining the sparse address, he said: “My friends Jim and Audrey always send me a postcard from their holidays but they are getting quite old now, they are in their 80s, so must have forgotten to write the full address.
“There must be thousands of Alans in Scotland, I can’t believe it finally came to me.
“Stephen has delivered postcards from them before so he must have just recognised the names – it is amazing.”
The postcard was sent from the North Atlantic Ocean on December 6 and reached Alan just after New Year.
Speaking this week, dedicated postman Stephen was modest about the successful delivery.
He said: “I read who it was from and I know they had a few postcards in the last few years so I thought I’d try them.
“I have no idea how it ended up in Lockerbie, of all the places in Scotland.”
Stephen, who is 60, has been with Royal Mail for 12 years and has delivered post in the Hightae area for seven years.
He added: “I’m on the route quite regularly so I know the people quite well.”
Impressed by Stephen’s efforts, a Royal Mail spokesman said: “Everyday our postmen and women across the country go the extra mile to deliver badly addressed mail to our customers.
“This shows that Stephen is a key member of his community to know exactly who was the recipient of this card.”
