diff --git a/config/alfresco/messages/webscripts-test-help.txt b/config/alfresco/messages/webscripts-test-help.txt
index bdee6ca945..26f5d3215d 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/messages/webscripts-test-help.txt
+++ b/config/alfresco/messages/webscripts-test-help.txt
@@ -55,6 +55,21 @@ ok> delete <path>
     
     <path> URL relative to /alfresco/service
     
+ok> tunnel <encoding> <method> <path>
+
+    Tunnel a request via POST.
+    
+    The actual <method> is encoded as either the URL parameter named alf:method or 
+    the request header named X-HTTP-Method-Override as specified via the <encoding>
+    parameter:
+    
+    param - encode method as URL parameter
+    header - encode method in Request Header
+    
+    e.g. to tunnel 'get /index' via post (where method is encoded in header) issue
+    
+    tunnel header get /index
+    
 ## 
 ##  end 
 ## 
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/TestWebScriptServer.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/TestWebScriptServer.java
index 4ec42f4135..aaa657c998 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/TestWebScriptServer.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/TestWebScriptServer.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.alfresco.config.Config;
 import org.alfresco.config.ConfigService;
@@ -204,6 +206,31 @@ public class TestWebScriptServer
         return res;
     }
     
+    /**
+     * Submit a Web Script Request
+     * 
+     * @param method  http method
+     * @param uri  web script uri (relative to /alfresco/service)
+     * @param headers  headers
+     * @return  response
+     * @throws IOException
+     */
+    public MockHttpServletResponse submitRequest(String method, String uri, Map<String, String> headers)
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        MockHttpServletRequest req = createRequest(method, uri);
+        for (Map.Entry<String, String> header: headers.entrySet())
+        {
+            req.addHeader(header.getKey(), header.getValue());
+        }
+        MockHttpServletResponse res = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+        
+        WebScriptRuntime runtime = new WebScriptServletRuntime(registry, transactionService, null, req, res, serverConfig);
+        runtime.executeScript();
+
+        return res;
+    }    
+    
     /**
      * A Read-Eval-Print loop.
      */
@@ -358,6 +385,44 @@ public class TestWebScriptServer
             bout.write(res.getContentAsByteArray());
             out.println();
         }
+        
+        else if (command[0].equals("tunnel"))
+        {
+            if (command.length < 4)
+            {
+                return "Syntax Error.\n";
+            }
+            
+            if (command[1].equals("param"))
+            {
+                String uri = command[3];
+                if (uri.indexOf('?') == -1)
+                {
+                    uri += "?alf:method=" + command[2];
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    uri += "&alf:method=" + command[2];
+                }
+                MockHttpServletResponse res = submitRequest("post", uri);
+                bout.write(res.getContentAsByteArray());
+                out.println();
+            }
+            
+            else if (command[1].equals("header"))
+            {
+                Map<String, String> headers = new HashMap<String, String>();
+                headers.put("X-HTTP-Method-Override", command[2]);
+                MockHttpServletResponse res = submitRequest("post", command[3], headers);
+                bout.write(res.getContentAsByteArray());
+                out.println();
+            }
+                
+            else
+            {
+                return "Syntax Error.\n";
+            }
+        }
 
         else if (command[0].equals("reset"))
         {
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServletRuntime.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServletRuntime.java
index 5f9875c0c5..88f2905234 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServletRuntime.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/web/scripts/WebScriptServletRuntime.java
@@ -70,7 +70,27 @@ public class WebScriptServletRuntime extends WebScriptRuntime
     @Override
     protected String getScriptMethod()
     {
-        return req.getMethod();
+        // Is this an overloaded POST request?
+        String method = req.getMethod();
+        if (method.equalsIgnoreCase("post"))
+        {
+            boolean overloadParam = false;
+            String overload = req.getHeader("X-HTTP-Method-Override");
+            if (overload == null || overload.length() == 0)
+            {
+                overload = req.getParameter("alf:method");
+                overloadParam = true;
+            }
+            if (overload != null && overload.length() > 0)
+            {
+                if (logger.isDebugEnabled())
+                    logger.debug("POST is tunnelling method '" + overload + "' as specified by " + (overloadParam ? "alf:method parameter" : "X-HTTP-Method-Override header"));
+                    
+                method = overload;
+            }
+        }
+        
+        return method;
     }
 
     /* (non-Javadoc)