Royal Mail suspended a street's deliveries because of safety fears after a postman hurt his back driving over a pothole.

Outraged residents of Bell Lane, in Smalley, Derbyshire, were told of the temporary halt to their local postal service in a hand-delivered letter.

A Royal Mail manager wrote: "The postman jarred his back after he had driven his van down one of the potholes along Bell Lane. This resulted in him having to take the rest of the week off sick.

"I have now suspended delivery of mail to your address until this problem is rectified.

"I am very sorry for any inconvenience caused, but I have to consider the safety of my employees, and also possible damage to our vehicle."

However, farmer Dan Oldershaw, 35, who lives in Bell Lane with his wife, Nicki, and two children, Charlie, five, and Harriet, 18 months, said that he was "flabbergasted" when he read the letter.

"If it wasn't for the date stamp I would have thought it was an April Fool's joke," he said. "I half expected Jeremy Beadle to pop out from behind the curtain."

Mrs Oldershaw said that the family were also "astounded" that someone hand-delivered the Royal Mail letter, but not the rest of their mail at the same time.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "The letter was sent by the local delivery office manager because the road was in a very poor state of repair. Deliveries to Bell Lane resumed on Saturday after repairs were made to the road surface.

"We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused whilst deliveries were suspended for a short time. During this time customers were able to collect their mail from the local post office."