A HERO postman foiled a break in at a house on his round.

Alan White, aged 43, was delivering post in Sunny Bank Road when he spotted the thieves and phoned police from his van.

Mr White had been looking for somewhere safe to stow a parcel when he walked into the back garden of the house to see two men in balaclavas trying to break in.

The would-be burglars fled the scene after Mr White came across them. He said: "I go to start my delivery and there's no one in so I thought I could put it round the back.

"I open the back gate and there's two men stood there in balaclavas trying to break in!

"One looked at me and I looked at him. I stepped back and shut the gate. It was a solid gate and I held it there, I thought they might come after me."

After no one tried to follow him, Mr White, who lives in Manchester Road, Bury called the police from his Royal Mail van.

He said: "The police were great, they were there within about four minutes."

He added he had seen four men running from the scene afterwards.

Mr White, who joined the Royal Mail in 1995, said he had never experienced anything like it before on one of his rounds.

He added: "I haven't spoken to the people whose house it was but the police phoned me saying thank you."

Since he saved the day, Mr White has found his post round taking more time than usual as people keep stopping him. He said: "Lots of people keep asking if it was me."

His family have been impressed by his actions too. Mr White said: "My wife Martha has called me a hero and my eldest daughter, Rebecca, was really impressed."

The attempted burglary happened at about 1pm on Thursday, November 23 and while the thieves did not steal anything they did damage the back door of the home in Whitefield.

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said: "The actions of this postman demonstrate exactly why our postmen and women are such highly valued members of their local communities.

“Our people make daily deliveries to almost 30 million addresses in the UK, and this makes them more visible on the streets than policemen, and they are often first at the scene in cases of fire, road accidents, and robbery, and instinctively get involved."

Greater Manchester Police's Whitefield division, tweeted on the day: "Break in at house on Sunnybank 1pm today. Thieves disturbed by top Royal Mail postman who called the cops.

"Four males ran off down Burndale Drive."