It's the amazing homing postcard!

A Needham Market man was astounded when a holiday postcard he had sent a friend dropped through his own letterbox.

It was the latest bungle in a string of postal mishaps including misdirected mail that has left John Bell in dispatch despair.

The former paintworker has now been reduced to check his mail every morning - even though no one else lives in the flat but him.

"It's ridiculous," said Mr Bell, of Foxglove Avenue. "I sent a postcard to my friend in Hargrave Avenue while I was on holiday in Scotland. But I couldn't believe it when it arrived on my doorstep. And it had her address on it!"

"I chased after the postman to tell him – but he just shrugged his shoulders and walked off."

Mr Bell's troubles with the Post Office stretch back nearly five years. He became so fed up with mix-ups, including the postcard incident which happened four years ago, that he signed up to the Evening Star Mailwatch campaign earlier this year after a first class letter had taken six days to reach him.

Other foul-ups include one occasion last year when Mr Bell mistakenly opened a letter – and it turned out to be a complete stranger's bank statement.

"It was so embarrassed when I handed it back to her," said the 59-year-old. "It's ridiculous that I live on my own and yet I have to check my mail."

But last week Mr Bell had cause to congratulate the PO on at least one instance of speedy service. After he had left his TV remote control at his sister's house in County Durham, it took less than 24 hours to get it back by post – in time for his favourite programme Spender.

But why has the unlucky chap have to 'spender' so much time sorting through his post?

A Royal Mail spokesman apologised for its mistakes, and told the Star: "We apologise for the postcard being misdelivered. Obviously something like this is an extraordinary circumstance."