THE theft of three post boxes in Accrington and Blackburn in the past month are linked, police said.

Small metal boxes attached to lamp posts, were taken from Stevenson Street West in Oswaldtwistle and Richmond Street, in Accrington, while a cast iron post box was dug up from Garsden Avenue in Blackburn.

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Residents now face an anxious wait to see if mail they posted turns up at its destination or was among the loads stolen.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said they were unsure of the motive but they believed one person was responsible for all the thefts.

He said: “We believe that the three thefts are linked and have extremely inconvenienced local residents as all the post boxes contained post.”

The theft in Stevenson Street West is believed to have happened at some point between noon on Tuesday, April 28, and the following day.

The post box in Richmond Street happened between Saturday, May 9, and Monday, while the box in Garsden Avenue was taken on Saturday, May 2, police said.

Whoever took the square box, which was mounted on a black pole, is believed to have used tools to dig it out of soft ground, close to the junction with Haslingden Road.

County councillor for Oswaldtwistle, where the first box was stolen from, Peter Britcliffe described the thefts as ‘new but outrageous’.

He said: “For starters, the boxes were in prominent locations so you would have thought somebody would have spotted this happening.

“And there are often very important documents, including bank statements, in the post.

“This is an outrageous turn of events.”

Although the thief’s motive is not known, scrap cast iron can fetch between four pence to eight pence per kilogram, heavy steel for five pence and 14 pence, and aluminium for 25 pence to £1.50.

The most valuable metal, apart from titanium, gold, silver, and platinum, is copper, which fetches between £2.60 and £3.60 per kg.

However, prices vary from day to day.

A Royal Mail spokesman said “Every item of mail is important to us and we would encourage anyone with any information about these incidents to contact the police. “Fortunately, theft of post boxes are quite rare but where they do happen Royal Mail takes them extremely seriously.”

PC Holden said: “We would like to speak to anyone with information about the theft of the three post boxes and anyone with information should contact us on 01254 353970.”