A postie who delivered letters to the same street for 25 years has been honoured by residents on his retirement.

Brian White, 65, has done the same round which includes Abingdon Road, Standlake, for more than two decades. People living in the street collected more than £700 to thank him.

Ted Tolputt, chairman of Standlake Parish Council, said: "He's a typical jolly postman, he's got a sense of humour and is always smiling.

"Having to deal with the Abingdon Road, he must have had nerves of steel with all those lorries that rattle along there. He made a lot of friends, they are going to miss him.

"The days of a regular post person keeping an eye on elderly people may have gone now. He was the ideal postman and they all wanted to do something to thank him.

"Joan Bayliss started the collection."

Mr White, of Ducklington Road, Witney, said: "It was a lovely surprise to find out they had done a collection.

"It's fantastic to be recognised for all the hard work. I know everybody there, I've seen them going from being just a bump to little children, watched them grow up, and they still know me now. It's lovely.

"I never had a bad dog on my round, I never got bitten, I made friends with the dogs.

"I shall miss my customers but I won't miss getting up at 4 in the morning. I can sleep in until 9am now. It's great."

He said that when he first started he would begin his round at 4.30am and not finish until 6pm.

"The rounds were a lot bigger then," he said. "It's a difficult job, people don't realise. The post is very heavy and I didn't used to get a break the whole day because I had so much to deliver.

"I got used to the early mornings. In the summer you can hear the birds sing and it's sunny and very nice. That makes up for all the horrible winter mornings."