BBC Scotland's Alan Mackay reports on the settlement

Announcing the deal, the Communications Workers Union said the postal worker would return to work pending a review of his case.

Union sources also said there would be a review of the way the affair had been handled by Royal Mail managers.

'Appalled'

A return to work by the strikers - whose numbers escalated to more than 2,000 - was set to get under way for shifts on Friday night.

The union said it was "appalled" at the handling of the case by senior Scottish managers, who it accused of deliberately prolonging the dispute.

"Someone should point out to them that their job is to serve the public and the business community in Scotland," said Deputy General Secretary John Keggie.

But the Royal Mail's service delivery director for Scotland, Alex Gibb, said he was proud of local managers who had worked long and hard to provide the best service possible in "extremely difficult and trying circumstances".

The dispute began at the Livingston depot

He went on: "We have said all along that the way to resolve this dispute is for all staff to return to work. The decision to review the case will achieve that.

"We still believe that the original decision was fair and we followed the process agreed with the union. We are obviously disappointed that our staff decided to take unofficial action, which only inconvenienced our customers unnecessarily."

Nearly half a million homes in Edinburgh, the Lothians, and Fife were hit by the dispute which began on Wednesday.

The strike spread on Friday morning to Falkirk, Grangemouth, Glenrothes and Leven before unions and management could thrash out the peace deal at emergency talks in London.

The dispute centred around the delivery of listings magazines to satellite and cable TV customers.