A post-woman has been suspended from her job and had a disciplinary inquiry launched against her after her actions left her vehicle potentially uncovered by delivery van insurance.
In April the 51-year-old had been making her usual deliveries around South Staffordshire when she noticed that she had dropped her pen. Leaving the post van running she got out to find the pen, but as she stepped away from the van a man got in and locked the doors.
The postal worker stated that upon seeing what had happened, she acted upon "instinct".
"I see all the same people every day, say hello and have a chat and get to know about their lives.
"So when I saw someone trying to steal the mail of people I care about there was no way I was going to let them."
She jumped onto the bonnet of her work vehicle and held on for one mile along the area's narrow country lanes in a bid to stop the thief from steeling the mail.
"All the time he was driving I was shouting at him to stop the van," she said, "I wasn't really frightened, just determined to hang on."
After a while the man stopped the vehicle and only escaped with a few letters.
However, despite the postal worker's brave actions, Royal Mail launched an inquiry and suspended her.
This may be because she left the keys in the ignition of the van, inviting the opportunist thief to take advantage of the situation and therefore invalidating any panel van insurance in place to cover theft of the vehicle.
Many MPs, lead by Sir George Young, the leader of the House of Commons have called for the lady to be reinstated. Furthermore, hundreds of people have written to the Royal Mail and also demanded that she be given back her postal role.
A significant amount of car crimes occur because drivers have left their vehicle unattended with the engine running. Police and insurance companies warn road users, and especially van drivers who need to get in and out of their van on a regular basis, against leaving their keys in the ignition as it will render their delivery van insurance null and void.