A historic village postbox that was due to close permanently after it was seriously damaged is back in service.

The Victorian postbox situated on Pancake Hill in Chedworth has been out of service since a vehicle reversed into it earlier this month.

Due to the location, the Royal Mail said that it would not be able to repair or replace the postbox and it would have to close, to the dismay of local councillors and residents.

However on further inspection, the Royal Mail found the postbox to be repairable after all and it is now back in use for local residents as of yesterday (May 30). 

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The postbox on Pancake Hill initially appeared beyond repair and we could not guarantee that it could be put back in service.

"However, on sealing up the postbox we established that it was repairable after all.

"Thanks to a helpful neighbour who provided our worker with an electric source for his generator and welder, the postbox is now mended.

"We have painted the postbox red again and it is now back in service.”

Gloucestershire County Council Lib Dem leader Cllr Paul Hodgkinson and Chedworth and Churn Valley district councillor Jenny Forde (Lib Dems) initially wrote a joint letter to the Royal Mail's Post Box appearance team on behalf of residents to get it fixed on May 17.

In the letter it said: "People in the village feel strongly that the box should remain in use and be reinstated properly. We feel the same way too.

"It is a piece of history and a landmark in the village.

"Local services are constantly under threat and being lost so we need to maintain what we have.

"Asking people to drive to another post box in another part of the village doesn’t help the environment and and is impractical for those who are elderly.

"Therefore we call on the Post Office to repair the postbox and damaged wall and ensure that this historic part of the Cotswolds is brought back into use."

But just two weeks later, the postbox is now fixed and back in service much to the delight of Cllr Hodgkinson.

He said: "This is really good news and common sense has prevailed.

"Not only has an historic asset been kept for the community and visitors but a really important local service has been saved.

"I’d like to thank the Royal Mail for listening to our request."