chrispeng [ad_1]
Postboxes in rural England have recently been filledelectronic label, to deter criminals from stealing mailboxes and selling them for £5,000 or more.
At least 100 traditional red mailboxes are stolen every year, with mailboxes in remote towns and villages most likely to be stolen.
The “serious threat” has forced Royal Mail to “stick” a label to what they describe as “part of the national image”.
Four Victorian postboxes were stolen in three Norfolk villages over just one weekend in January in what is believed to be a gang that targeted them.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said high-tech equipment would be used to track lost mailboxes, adding: “Postbox thefts are relatively rare, but there has been a spate of thefts by individuals or groups.”
“We have an in-house security team looking at equipment including forensic tags, permanent metal marking systems and electronic tracking.”
There are thought to be 800 different types of post boxes in the UK, and the rarest ones could fetch as much as £5,700 at auction.
Since Royal Mail stopped selling mailboxes in 2003, the boxes have become more expensive, driving demand.
Robert Cole, a member of the Letter Box Study Group hobbyist association, told the Daily Telegraph: “There are people who love scrap metal, and there are people who don’t like the content of it. Interested, and others are aware of the legacy value of these mailboxes.”
The team has found around 800 different types of mailboxes in the UK.
[ad_2]
