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Royal Mail have given a pensioner his own personal postbox after his local one was deemed too dangerous to use.
Arthritis sufferer Albert Kingdom, 87, was distraught when the box he used in Twitchen, South Molton, Devon, was removed because it was fixed to a rotten post.
However, he has now persuaded the postwoman to collect his letters from a shopping bag hung on his hedge.
Royal Mail bosses have approved the arrangement although they insist it is 'very rare' and not part of their legal obligations.
Retired farmworker Mr Kingdom said: 'People say there's been a postbox in our village for 100 years and I depend on it.
'I can't be bothered with email and I don't get out much because of my arthritis.
'Some say I should move to a town but I've got my wife, my mother and my brother buried in the churchyard and I want to stay here until my time comes.
'When they took the postbox away it upset everyone in Twitchen. I asked our postlady to collect my mail from my garden hedge and she agreed to help as a favour. She's fantastic.'
The Twitchen postbox, dating from the reign of King George V, who reigned on the throne from 1910 to 1936, was a type known as a 'Hovis Box'.
It is thought the nickname stemmed from its distinctive rounded top - said to resemble a Hovis loaf.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: 'Unfortunately this box was fixed on a post which was rotten. It was a danger both to our collection staff and customers.
'Replacing it involves a lengthy process including an underground scan. This is a box which serves only six houses and we've got to justify whether in those circumstances we put it back.
'The postwoman agreed to help Mr Kingdom as a good deed. While we do make individual arrangements these are very rare and form no part of our legal obligations.'
Mr Kingdom says he won't name the postwoman for fear of embarrassing her or getting her into trouble.
He said: 'What I really want is for the village to have its postbox back.
'I've put in hundreds of gateposts on farms and I'll gladly fix up a good solid one for Royal Mail to hang a box on.
'I'll even give them a tenner to pay for that post.'
