Village post boxes stolen

South Holland villages have been hit by a spate of post box thefts – with six stolen this month.

Post boxes and their contents were stolen overnight last week.

Lincolnshire Police have confirmed that post boxes have gone missing from these locations: Eaugate Road, Moulton Chapel; Cornfield Close, Deeping St Nicholas; Money Bridge, West Pinchbeck; Station Road, Deeping St James; Colsuan Gardens, Long Sutton and Counter Drain Drove, Tongue End. The last four listed occurred overnight of October 15/16.

Inspector Gareth Boxall said: “We are investigating these crimes and ask that anyone with any information contact us on 101 quoting 19000554060 or anonymously to CrimeStoppers.

“At one of these offences, a resident heard grinding at the time of the offence.

“We ask residents to remain vigilant. If you live near a post box and hear grinding or see anything suspicious, particularly overnight we ask you contact us immediately.”

The letters posted during those dates would have been stolen too. A spokesman for Royal Mail said to contact them if you suspect your post was in a stolen box.

The spokesman said: “If customers have any concerns about their mail, they should contact our customer service team on 03457 740 740.”

They added: “Royal Mail has over 115,000 postboxes across the UK and the theft of postboxes is relatively rare.

“Royal Mail takes the issue extremely seriously, and works closely with police forces and other groups across the UK to prevent the unlawful removal of postboxes.

“We also deploy preventative measures and technologies to deter theft, and these measures may include forensic tags, permanent metal marking systems and electronic tracking. In the event that a crime is committed, these features can assist our investigators to identify and trace stolen property and potential offenders.“