Postbox pranksters going for gold


08 September 2006 09:52

A post box on Dereham Road, Norwich which has been painted Gold.

Postboxes in Norwich have been given an impromptu makeover - and now the question on everybody's lips is: who is the phantom postbox painter?

People living in the west of the city woke on Thursday to find at least 15 postboxes in the streets between Dereham Road and Newmarket Road had been painted gold overnight. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the midnight dash with the spray paint - which will cost the Royal Mail more than £1,000 to put right - and many are asking whether it really is an act of vandalism or a carefully planned stunt.

Sub postmaster Malcolm Wright discovered his postbox's shiny new paint job when he opened his post office on Vauxhall Street.

He said: “It must have been done overnight. Nothing like this has happened round here before but I know there were some painted blue in the city before.

“They seem to have done a reasonable job. We assume Royal Mail will now come round and paint it red again but how long it will take, I cannot say.

“I think it is quite a nice colour actually - it's different.”

But one of Mr Wright's customers, 74-year-old Barbra Overman was not so impressed.

Left: A multicoloured vandalised post box on The Avenues in Norwich, complete with question mark. Right: Vandalism in February when a postbox was painted blue.

She said: “I think it is terrible. A postbox should be red.

“They have not even done a very good job of it. I cannot paint but I could have done better than that.

“I think it was teenagers. These people have always got to get up to something.”

Three postboxes on Earlham Road were hit in the daring paint raid and at the shopping arcade there was speculation that it may have been a planned attack.

Katharine Gilligan owns Purple, a clothes shop opposite the postbox there. She said: “There is a CCTV camera on Somerfield but it does not come up this far. To have painted that many boxes they must have had a lot of paint.

“I think it is quite clever if it is seeking publicity for a cause. They could have done a lot worse by painting it with graffiti.

“It looks nicer than red. It would be interesting to know who did it.”

Alan Harraton, who lives on Earlham Road and saw the postbox while doing his shopping, said: “It is just a form of graffiti. I think it has been done by people who have a grudge against the Royal Mail but then who would take the trouble to paint the whole box gold. Usually they just post things like pizzas through them.”

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: “As far as we are concerned this is an act of vandalism.

“We will now have to get the postboxes repainted. It will cost us money and take time to sort out.”

A spokeswoman for the police said: “We have had a report this morning of postboxes in Dereham Road and Vauxhall Street being sprayed with gold paint. The damage is believed to have been caused some time between 9pm on September 6 and 6.45am yesterday. Two post boxes outside the Co-op were sprayed, two more further down Dereham Road have been reported damaged and a fifth one has been reported in Vauxhall Street.”

Police are appealing for anyone who knows who was responsible or who saw anything suspicious to contact them.

The painting follows a similar case which happened earlier this year, when pedestrians on St Stephen's Road were surprised to find their postbox, traffic lights and crossing outside the old Norfolk and Norwich Hospital had been painted blue.

Postbox facts:

Postboxes were introduced in Britain in 1852 based on a design provided by the novelist (then Surveyor's Clerk) Anthony Trollope.

One notorious postbox in Priory Road, Cambridge, has spikes all over the top. It has been moved a number of times, although it is believed the spikes were originally used to prevent students climbing over a college wall when late.

Bath still holds two of the original 'Penfold' postboxes. Retired postmen have gilded the finial and insignia on these boxes gold but the rest remains the official postbox red!

Before 1846 'Bell-men' or 'Walking Postboxes' were employed to ring in the streets and gather any late letters.

In the 1930s special airmail postboxes appeared with distinctive blue livery and prominent airmail signs. They had later posting times but were only used until 1938. Many have now been repainted red and are now in ordinary use.

Postboxes can be found attached to lampposts, in walls and standing on your streets. Although they are most commonly red, many were designed in green and gold gilding is common.

Probably the most well loved Victorian postboxes are known as 'Penfolds', which were made between 1866 and 1879. Over one hundred of these are in use all over Britain or preserved in museums.

When a new sovereign accedes to the throne the new royal cipher is used in manufacturing letterboxes but the older boxes remain in service.

Fifty pillar boxes decorated with masks and flowers were made for use in London in 1857.

The 'Crown and Cushion' postbox made by Smith and Hawkes in 1856 would certainly have caught the attention of passers-by. Due to a mistake in design interpretation they were 8ft high and only six were ever made!

Information from Bath Postal Museum www.bathpostalmuseum.org

Do you know who the phantom postbox painter is? What do you think of the gold colour? Contact reporter Dominic Chessum on 01603 772428 or email dominic.chessum@archant.co.uk

Email A Friend

News: Latest headlines on Evening News 24