HE WAS just going to post some letters to constituents when York MP Hugh Bayley discovered there was only one problem - the postbox had disappeared.

The box nearest his York home, outside the former Fishergate sub-post office, had been removed following the recent closure of the sub-post office.

The MP, like other people living locally, then had to walk the extra distance to the next nearest box.

But he claimed today that the removal of the box was not just inconvenient, but also an example of the Post Office reneging on a promise.

Mr Bayley said he had a letter last August from Post Office official David Mellows-Facer, during public consultation on controversial proposals to close seven sub-post offices in York.

In the letter, he was given an assurance that no post boxes would be lost through the closure programme.

Mr Mellows-Facer stated: "Please note that the existing post boxes located just outside all the branches in the area will remain sited."

Now the MP has written back to express his disappointment at the removal of the box, along with another one which has also been removed from outside the former post office in Holgate Road.

"I understand from one constituent that the (Fishergate) postbox was removed so suddenly that the postman arrived for the evening collection that day expecting it to be there," he said.

He asked to be told why it had been removed and also asked for an assurance that the box would be replaced.

But a Post Office spokeswoman told the Evening Press: "The postbox outside the former Fishergate Post Office was on private property and the owners asked for it to be removed, which we have done.

"In such cases, we would usually reinstate the box as close as possible to the original site, but there are two other boxes nearby, one of which is only 100 metres away, so the number of postboxes in the area is well within the requirements of our postal licence."

She said it had not yet been decided whether to replace the one removed from Holgate Road.

Mr Bayley said he would continue to press for the boxes to be replaced, as had been promised.

Updated: 10:07 Tuesday, March 22, 2005