Royal Mail forced to close postbox down – because snails have been eating mail

The red box has been closed since July this year and has a sign on it that says “not in use, snails eating mail.” It’s not known how long they’d been doing it for

Royal Mail bosses have been forced to close a country postbox after discovering snails have been crawling inside – and eating the mail.

The red box on the B1341 in Adderstone, Northumberland, has been closed since July this year and has a sign on it that says “not in use, snails eating mail.” It’s currently unknown how Royal Mail realised the animals were eating the letters inside the box and how long they were doing it for.

Northumberland County councillor Guy Renner-Thompson said: “The road has been closed and thought the box had been closed because the road had been closed. But then I saw the sign that said the post had been eaten by the snails. I know the locals will be annoyed that this has happened because about a year ago, the post box got stolen.

“It’s a very well used box although it’s in the middle of nowhere. The residents will be looking forward to it going back in operation.” A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “A post box may be temporarily closed due to a wildlife infestation, we then take steps to resolve it and will reopen as soon as possible. In the meantime, we advise customers to use their nearest convenient post box.”

Royal Mail expect the post box to reopen this week.