New York, New York

At Royal Mail, we make Christmas happen for millions of people. Every one of us puts in that extra effort to deliver the cards and gifts that connect family and friends at a special time of the year.

A perfect illustration of the impact this can have comes from the actions of Keith Sellers, a postman in the Huntington area of York. Keith’s diligence and dedication not only made Christmas for one family, but saved the holiday of a lifetime.

Customer Lylise Collins takes up the story. ‘The week before Christmas I was waiting on a very important delivery – a card for my daughter, which included confirmation we were going to New York. I contacted the sender when the delivery was taking longer than expected, even given the time of year.

‘The day before we were due to go, it had still not arrived. As you can imagine, I was in extreme panic mode. It was 3.30pm and I had picked up my daughter from school. All day I have been frantic trying to find my local postman. While my daughter was in the car, I spotted a postman, but he wasn't our regular.

‘I jumped out of the car, ran over and explained my desperate situation to Keith… hoping that the card must be in his bag. He understood the importance of the surprise and he was amazing!

‘My post was not in his bag. He said it may have still been in the van around the corner, or with the other postman on the same post round. He jumped in the back of my car. My daughter didn't know what was going on. But Keith kept the surprise.

‘I took him to the van in the next road, but my post wasn't there. We went and found the second postman on the same round. He had the post! Keith was able to deliver the card, after we took him back in the car to where he had left off.

‘Keith made my little girl’s Christmas! She had the biggest surprise ever, because of his amazing attitude towards his work. He wanted nothing more than for me to get this one piece of post and he tried his hardest to keep the magic alive, even though he was working his day off and they were already hours behind.

‘Keith is a legend!’