A new Royal Mail postbox has been installed in a rural Wakefield village – five months after the old one was stolen.
Residents in Woolley had to travel two miles to post letters since thieves used an angle grinder to remove boxes from The Green and Barnsley Road in March.
Jade Botterill, MP for Ossett and Denby Dale, intervened on behalf of her constituents by calling for a meeting with Royal Mail after describing the situation as “totally unacceptable”.
Ms Botterill met with senior representatives of the service at her Westminster office last month and rejected an initial suggestion that it would take a further 12 to 16 weeks for them to be replaced.
A new box, which includes King Charles III’s cypher, has been reinstated at The Green but Royal Mail has confirmed that the one on Barnsley Road will not be replaced.
A Royal Mail letter to the MP said: “This decision took into account the risk of further theft, together with the relatively small number of addresses the postbox serves.
“Although the postbox will not be replaced, arrangements are in place to ensure residents have convenient access to the Royal Mail network.
“Local postmen and women are happy to collect letters bearing the correct postage directly from customers while carrying out their deliveries in the area.”
The Labour MP previously said: “Rural residents deserve a postal service they can rely on, so the initial timeline set out by Royal Mail was totally unacceptable.
“This is a huge win for Woolley residents and shows what happens when our community stands together.”
The thefts were first reported by Woolley resident Richard Dixon on March 8 after the boxes were removed the previous evening.
Mr Dixon said he had made multiple requests for the boxes to be replaced since reporting them missing earlier this year.
He said: “It’s a relief that one has finally been installed but it is very disappointing that they are not replacing the one on Barnsley Road.
“I can understand the commercial reasons behind it, but the principle is they should be replacing it.
“Even if only ten letters are posted a year it doesn’t matter.
“It’s part on a historic route and they should have to comply with having so many postboxes in an area.
“It’s a disgrace that it has taken the intervention of our MP for action to eventually be taken.
“They weren’t prepared to listen to me as a local resident and there is just no excuse for that.”