At first, I thought this would be the most interesting line in the article: “A dedicated German postman who figured out the quickest routes between postal depots to speed up his work has escaped criminal charges and managed to keep his job with just a reprimand for not working to rule.”

Then I read on.

The 53-year-old postie from Rosenheim near Munich came under suspicion when colleagues realized he was faster at the job than they were – and one of them reported him, assuming he was throwing away the mail instead of delivering it….

The case ended up at the administrative court in Aibling and…the court heard he had ignored post office rules to make his working day more efficient.

He told the court how he had been saving time after working out quicker routes between the postal depots — where mail is held for postmen and women to pick up and then deliver.

His immediate boss admitted knowing at least in part about the man’s time-saving methods, and said she had informally tolerated them.

“I admit that some of them are possibly logical,” she said — but said they could not be officially accepted as they did not fit the rules.

The court case against him was dismissed, but it was not recorded whether he would have to return to a less efficient way of working.