A Cross Hills woman is calling for action to prevent vandals removing mail from a postbox and destroying the contents.

Margaret Lund, of Ryeland Avenue, says that she is continually picking up the remains of sodden letters that have been removed from the postbox on Wheatlands Lane.

She said that vandals appear to be taking the letters from the postbox, opening up them looking for cash then discarding them down the snicket leading between where she lives and Wheatlands Lane.

Among the debris Mrs Lund has found cheques, Christmas cards and invoices which she has endeavoured to return to their senders.

"As far as I know this has been happening for the past two to three years and it's time something was done about it," she said, adding that the type of things she found were not only personal, but important to both the senders and the recipients.

Mrs Lund has written to the post office to complain about the matter.

She says the box should be replaced with a bigger one so the letters do not lie as close to the slot, or removed altogether.

Local Area Police Commander Sgt Steve Scott said that these were serious offences and anyone with information should contact Cross Hills Police on 01756 793377.

He said that there had been mail found at Hall Street toilets before Christmas which had been traced back to the same postbox, and that often the box was filled to capacity, meaning letters were sticking out and therefore could easily be removed.

A spokesman from Royal Mail said: "We will investigate the complaint and will carry out a number of checks on the box. We always urge customers to contact customer services on 0845 7740740 if they come across a box which appears to be full or is over-flowing, so that it can be emptied as soon as possible."

Mrs Lund added that in the meantime people should avoid over-filling the postbox to prevent further incidents.