THE Royal Mail has been pressed into replacing the most beleaguered, vandalised post box in Bolton.

Thieves and vandals targeted the box outside Castle Hill Post Office on Tonge Moor Road for almost a year, despite a variety of surveillance and security measures by the Royal Mail.

Even the eventual arrest of a youth, who was charged with theft and handling of stolen mail earlier this year, did not stop the attacks.

Now, the entire box has been removed and replaced with a more "robust model."

The move has come following an article highlighting the problem in the BEN. Peter Thurnham, the retiring MP for Bolton North East, read the story and wrote to the Royal Mail urging decisive action.

He wrote on behalf of one of his constituents, Fiona Crossley, of Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, who in the BEN report described how her son, Kenneth, discovered countless job applications posted in the box had been among mail stolen.

She described how the box was regularly targeted by thieves on a weekly basis.

She said: "One lad that I've seen seems to have a key, he's in and out of that box so fast." In reply, a spokesman from Royal Mail, said: "Once the problem of thefts from the post boxes was discovered, all locks on the involved boxes were changed. Unfortunately, the problems continued. "In March 1996, the box outside the Post Office was vandalised and as a result, it was removed for repair and subsequently reinstalled.

"Once it was clear that these thefts were a persistent problem, surveillance began outside Castle Hill Post Office and extra unadvertised collections took place.

"A great deal of time and resource was spent in surveying the box in question to prevent any recurrence of these incidents. Despite all our actions, the thefts continued.

"Our prime objective in this instance was to apprehend the perpetrator once and for all.

"Eventually, and after extensive actions on our part, a young boy was arrested earlier this year and charged with the theft and handling of stolen mail. We thought, as did many others, that this would be the end of the whole affair. "Naturally we were appalled to learn that, despite this arrest, these instances appeared to be continuing.

"Once we were aware of these repeated incidents immediate action was taken to remove the entire box and replace it with a newer and more robust model. It would seem that this has now put a final stop to the thieving."

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