A dedicated postmaster made a round trip of more than 600 miles to personally deliver a passport on time.
David Shepherd, 26, drove 50 miles and took four trains after realising he had forgotten to put the documents in the post.
The passport had to get to customer Hugh Monro in Rye, Sussex by 9am the following day so that his planned visit to Amsterdam could go ahead.
He was heading to the Dutch capital for a charity board meeting after stopping off at his sister’s house in Rye.
Mr Shepherd, who has been the postmaster in the village of Stratton, near Bude, Cornwall for 11 months, decided to take matters into his own hands and ensure Mr Monro received his passport in time.
After closing time, he drove 50 miles from Stratton to Exeter and then took the 1am overnight sleeper train to Paddington, arriving in the capital at around 5.30am.
Mr Shepherd then crossed London on the Tube to catch the 6.40am train from St Pancras to Ashford in Kent.
He then completed his marathon trek on the 7.41am train from Ashford to Rye in East Sussex and hand-delivered the passport to Mr Monro’s sister.
Mr Shepherd had just 15 minutes before catching the train straight back, a journey which cost him more than £150.
“It was a long journey but was all worth it to keep my customers happy,” he said.
“People keep coming in and saying ‘can I have that hand delivered please?’ but the feedback we’ve had for it is really, really positive.
“I’m really glad I did it. It was my mistake in the first place that the passport didn’t go to the postman.
“It was pretty tiring. I had worked from 7am that morning and then I caught the train at 1am the next morning and with no sleep and when I finally arrived I had to turn around and go back again within half an hour.
“When I finally arrived Mr Monro’s sister was speechless that I travelled up that night. Since he returned from his trip he bought me a nice bottle of Champagne and he’s been nothing but grateful ever since.
“It was long days and I was really running on adrenalin. I think it was about 8pm when I finally got back but I had to go back to work for a few hours after that. It was a long two days.
“Hopefully it won’t happen again but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it all again.”