ROYAL Mail has caved in to villagers’ demands and relocated its postbox in Winwick – just months after it was moved.

Residents criticised the decision to re-site the postbox, formerly based outside the old Winwick Post Office on Myddleton Lane, to a new position on Golborne Road, by St Oswald’s Church, in December.

They said it was dangerous because pedestrians had to cross the busy road near a blind bend where traffic leaves the A49, to reach the postbox.

Royal Mail defended its decision, saying that the postbox had to be moved at the request of the property owner, as the former post office had become private land.

The company also claimed that it hadn’t received any objections from Warrington Borough Council, utility companies in the area or residents.

Yet following a series of letters and an article printed in the Warrington Guardian along with the campaigning of Myddleton Lane resident Ernest Rudd, protestors complained in their droves.

And a week last Thursday the postbox was re-positioned by the entrance to Winwick playing field.

Mr Rudd, aged 82, who described the original move as ‘hair-brained’, said: “I think we can say ‘mission accomplished’! Thanks to all those who wrote.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “The postbox was moved from its original location outside the former Winwick Post Office following the closure of the post office under the Network Change programme in March last year, as the box was on private land and we were asked to remove it by the property owner.

“At the time, the location of the box on the opposite side of Golborne Road, outside the church, was chosen as the nearest and most suitable position to its previous location.

“However, we subsequently reviewed its location, and the provision of posting facilities elsewhere in the immediate vicinity and decided to relocate the box to a site at the entrance to the park on the same side of Myddleton Lane as the village store, which we believe is more convenient for our customers.”