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RESIDENTS in Stinchcombe are furious after a popular postbox was removed.
The Oldhill Lane postbox was spotted with its pole bent almost to the ground back in February.
Mindful of the problems getting another Stinchcombe postbox replaced a couple of years ago, Marian Shaw, chairman of the parish council made her own arrangements to have the pole repaired.
But the box was removed by Royal Mail before the repairs could be carried out.
With the box still missing three months later, resident Mandy Delafield liaised with Royal Mail on the matter, only to learn in late August that they no longer intended to replace the box.
Parish councillors, district councillors and MP Siobhan Baillie added their voices in support of residents and district councillor Catherine Braun took the matter to a Postal Review Panel, insisting on an explanation.
She was told that the box “gets knocked over a lot by we suspect farming machinery, and by vehicles trying to turn”.
Mrs Shaw said: “Longstanding residents have no recollection of this ever happening and no hard evidence has been provided to support the claim. Bizarrely, Royal Mail gave our MP an entirely different reason for not replacing the box, citing “the balance of economy against service provision”.
Parish councillor Kath Hudson has criticised Royal Mail’s complaints procedure, describing it as both ‘confusing and confused’.
Mrs Shaw added: “Stinchcombe is in no mood to give up and is considering how to continue its fight.”
Royal Mail have been approached for comment.
