Villagers see red after Royal Mail paints over gold postbox

A MAN who painted a postbox gold in the village where triathlete Alistair Brownlee lives has slammed the Royal Mail after they re-painted it.

After seeing the Brownlee boys bring home a gold and bronze, 82-year-old Peter Moran decided to paint the postbox outside his home in Bramhope, Leeds, which is on the same road as Alistair and Jonny’s house.

The Royal Mail had already decided to paint a postbox in nearby Horsforth, where the boys were brought up, leading to dismay among Bramhope residents.

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Mr Moran said: “When I watched what they went through to get the medal I thought I’ve got to do something to celebrate this. I had an old pot of gold paint in the garage and I thought it would look really good.

“Loads of people have been stopping and having their pictures taken by it – it’s been great but if I’d have had even one complaint I would have painted it back red.

“To be honest Royal Mail have saved me a job as I was going to paint it back myself. I just think they could have waited until after the Olympics, it wasn’t doing any harm.

“The box shouldn’t have been painted in Horsforth anyway, they don’t live in Horsforth – it’s miles away and would take you 10 minutes to get there.

“I thought the games were meant to be about everyone. It doesn’t get much more local than this.

“Not many people use this postbox but the ones who do were enjoying it.”