A life on the open road beckons for a retired Maidstone postman who scooped £25,000 on a charity lottery draw.

But 57-year-old David Stuart nearly missed out on the windfall after moving house and forgetting to leave a forwarding address.

Mr Stuart, formerly of Vinters Park, took early retirement from life as a postie after being injured in a motorcycle crash in November, leaving him with arm and leg problems. Although he can still drive a car, he had to give up his love of motorcycles.

While at Maidstone Hospital he signed up with the Demelza Lotto at the charity’s regular stand.

His numbers came up on Friday, July 15, but when Paul Booth, head of lottery and gaming, arrived to present the cheque he found Mr Stuart had moved away six months before.

It took a six-week search until he was tracked down to Littlestone-on-Sea – 40 miles away.

Mr Booth said: “I discovered he had worked for the Post Office, so we tried contacting them, but to no avail. We also tried 192, Facebook and BT directory enquiries, but drew a blank.”

It was only when one of the charity’s letters was passed on to Mr Stuart by his bank did he finally realise he was a winner.

Mr Stuart spent his prize money on a shiny new four-berth camper van so he and his partner Maria Pearson can tour Britain and Europe.

He said: “I have always felt passionately about the work Demelza does with children and decided my monthly contributions would go some way to help. I never really expected to win anything.”

As a charity Demelza Hospice Care for Children is reliant on fundraising, donations and gifts in Wills to raise more than £10.5million needed every year to provide care to seriously ill children and their families.

Find out more at: www.demelza.org.uk