A householder has spoken of his horror as he watched a temporary postal worker stuff mail down a drain.

Ken Bedford said the letters were retrieved by his wife and a neighbour.

But as they were being dried out on a lawn, they were collected by a Royal Mail supervisor and returned to the sorting office.

Mr Bedford, who photographed the postal worker after he had dumped four letters down the drain, was at home preparing for a bowls match when he witnessed the incident at 1.30pm on Monday, June 7.

"I just happened to glance through the bedroom window and saw the postman, who had just delivered our mail a few minutes earlier, putting envelopes down the drain in Cheltenham Road opposite the top of Clara Road," said Mr Bedford, of Cheltenham Road, Swain House, Bradford. He said he told his wife Judith who found the four letters, addressed to households in nearby Livingstone Road, stuffed beneath a metal grille.

Shortly afterwards they saw the postman talking to a supervisor in a postal van. Mrs Bedford told the supervisor what had happened and he drove off towards the city centre in the van.

"My wife arranged for the envelopes to be recovered with the help of a neighbour - they had retrieved the envelopes and were drying them out on the lawn when the supervisor returned," said Mr Bedford. "He said they would be sent with an explanation to the correct destination."

The letters were later delivered to the homes in Livingstone Road with a note from the Royal Mail's Bradford North delivery manager, David Gavin, explaining why the envelopes were soiled.

It said they had been "damaged as a result of exposure to water."

"I would like to offer my sincere apologies, while also asking for your understanding of the circumstances leading to the damage to your mail item," he wrote.

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said the incident was being investigated. "If any member of staff is guilty of damaging or delaying mail, appropriate action will be taken," he said. "The majority of staff are honest."