Former postman Frank Haynes has taken delivery of a postcard he sent to his family 24 years ago.

Frank popped it into a letterbox on Hove seafront while he was convalescing after a back operation in 1976.

He expected the card to drop through the letterbox of his home in Birmingham a few days later.

It had still not arrived when he returned after spending two weeks recovering from the operation and he thought no more about it.

But he and wife Morleen were stunned when a plastic bag containing a card and a note from the Post Office dropped on to his mat on Tuesday.

The note simply apologised for the fact the card had been slightly damaged but mentioned nothing about it being a bit late.

Frank, 71, hurt his back while working on a car in 1975 and underwent an operation a year later.

Because he was a serving policeman he was sent to the police convalescent home at Hove.

Frank sent Morleen, now 69, a card to say he had arrived safely and on October 6, 1976, he posted a second to let her know how he was getting on.

The first arrived after a few days, the second last Tuesday.

Frank left the police to become a postman and retired at 61.

He said: "When this plastic bag dropped through the door on Tuesday, I had no idea what it was.

"The writing was faded with age but I thought it looked like mine.

"When I turned it over and saw the picture of The Lanes it suddenly hit me that it was the card I posted in 1976.

"Morleen and I were amazed. We have no idea why it has taken so long. The Post Office have given no explanation."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We would not like to comment on how this particular card was seemingly delivered 24 years after it was posted.

"We get regular claims about mail which turns up years after it was supposedly posted, some from as long ago as the Forties.

"When we investigate them, a great number have been reposted so we tend to treat these claims with healthy scepticism."