A POSTIE received his own surprise delivery after a prankster sent him a banana by Royal Mail.
The piece of fruit arrived at Jeff Davies’ home only slightly bruised and with two franked second-class stamps still firmly attached.
The joker had written “Do not bend” on the banana – which was promptly eaten for breakfast by Jeff and his girlfriend Allie Tubbesing.
Jeff, 27, from Cupar, Fife, answered the door on Thursday morning to be handed the banana by a bemused fellow postie who had not been able to get it through the letterbox.
The banana had started its 81-mile journey on Tuesday, in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire. It was collected from a post box in the town and transported to a sorting office in Edinburgh where it was franked.
The banana then travelled to Cupar sorting office and on to Jeff’s home.
High school pal Gavine Morton, a tap dance teacher, decided to play the joke “just to make people that saw the banana smile”.
Jeff said: “My pal sent it for a giggle and to see if it worked and – tah dah! – I am now the proud owner of one delicious banana.
“It was still in fine eating order too.”
“I knew he was up to something because he was pestering me for my address. He said he was playing with Google maps but I was like, ‘no way, he’s a cheeky monkey, he’s up to something’.
“Then right enough, the next day there was a chap at the door.
“My girlfriend answered and it was Russell the postie with a banana saying it was for me. We died with laughter and then had a healthy breakfast.”
The postie who delivered the banana, Russell Goose, posted on his Facebook page: “I’ve delivered some odd things in my time but this takes the biscuit.”
Gavine, also 27, said: “My inspiration was to cheer up anyone who crossed paths with the banana. Mailmen, drivers, and obviously my friend.”
He warned: “I have a few ideas in the pipeline but it’s best to keep them secret for now.”
“I enjoy cheering people up with jokes and pranks. It’s good to make your friends happy, and even better to make strangers happy.”
While Royal Mail has strict restrictions on items that can be posted – including ice, Christmas crackers and living creatures – their online guidance makes no reference to unprotected fruit.
Royal Mail advises does advise customers that they “use machines to sort your mail and occasionally this can result in packaging being damaged”.
Robert Murray, an Edinburgh-based philatelist, said: “Over the last few years thousands of strange items have been sent including beer mats and the like. So the stamps on this banana wouldn’t actually be worth much at all.”
