The last of three Bristol postal workers sacked after an industrial dispute has accepted a job after almost a year fighting her cause.

Michaela Gibbs was one of the so called 'Bristol 3' – a trio of postal workers who claimed they were unfairly sacked following last year's strike.

The south Bristol mum said she now has two reasons to celebrate since the job offer means she will be spending the day with her son on his birthday rather than locked in an industrial tribunal.

Ms Gibbs, who had worked for Royal Mail for 14 years, was sacked after she was alleged to have made offensive comments during the strike outside the Mead Street mail depot in October 2007.

It was to be a year of mixed fortunes – just five months earlier she had won £18,000 on Channel 4's Deal or No Deal.

But she was devastated when she was sacked for "gross misconduct, bullying and harassment" in November, and then lost an internal appeal against the dismissal.

Her case was due to go before an industrial tribunal yesterday but on Saturday morning Royal Mail made the revised offer to her through the company solicitors.

Ms Gibbs, who lives in Withywood, Bristol said: "It's a massive relief, this has gone on for almost a year and finally I can go back to work.

"I was completely innocent but the Post Office just wouldn't back down."

She said she was looking forward to going back to the job she loved after months spent worrying about bills.

"I applied for dozens of other jobs but they all wanted references and to know why I left my job. On my record it says I was sacked for gross misconduct so that meant nobody wanted to know," she said.

"The money I won from Deal or No Deal went on a loft conversion and all I had was a bit of savings. I ended up having to work at the airport on minimum wage to be able to survive. That's why I had to fight this all the way because I knew that otherwise gross misconduct would have stayed on my record for the rest of my life."

Ms Gibbs said she was fully prepared to spend yesterday and today in court.

"I was very surprised to get a call on Saturday morning, but I'm glad that I will be able to go to work. If we had won in court I would probably have just had a pay-off and I would rather have returned to work. I also would have missed my son's fourth birthday so that is another reason to celebrate."

David Wilshire branch secretary for the Communication Workers' Union said: "This whole case has taken nearly a year to resolve. It is bizarre that it has taken the threat of an employment tribunal to make Royal Mail see sense about a case they were never going to win."