Mystery surrounds the change in appearance of post boxes around a town where the usual red has become gold.

The golden pillar boxes started popping up around Temple Hill in Dartford earlier this week and residents have no idea why.

There has been plenty of speculation about who is behind the paint job.

Many residents are calling it vandalism while others like the change from the usual red.

Comments on social media responding to a question about who was responsible ranged from simply "Vandals!" to "I’m guessing someone who doesn’t have respect for property that isn’t theirs".

Another posted: "I wonder if it has anything to do with the ongoing scandal with the post office, but someone not knowing that Royal Mail and post office are separate entities."

A lot of comments were critical of the paintwork, including one which said: "Needs another coat by the looks of it."

Although very much in the minority, there were some who liked the gold. "Looks better," said one commenter.

The gold boxes have been spotted in Keynes Road, St Vincents Road, Victoria Road, Pilgrims Way, Fulwich Road and Welcome Avenue and appear to have been spray-painted.

The one on Temple Hill Square looks to have been returned to its original red. Another was said to have been painted silver.

A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “We are aware of the post boxes and are in the process of having them restored to their original red.”

A number of post boxes were re-painted gold to honour home-town medal winners after the London Olympics in 2012.

In 2014, there was controversy after a post box in West Kingsdown, near Sevenoaks, was given the gold treatment to mark Lizzy Yarnold’s success in the Winter Olympics.

It came after Royal Mail said it had no plans to repeat what it had done for the 2012 games, despite a petition signed by 60,000-plus people calling on it to do so for Miss Yarnold.

The former Maidstone schoolgirl won gold in the skeleton in Sochi in Russia.

Instead, carpenter Terry Malone created a gold post box for the Olympian.

Four years later, at the winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, she successfully defended her title – but once again Royal Mail could not be convinced.

Commenting at the time, a Royal Mail spokesman said: “London 2012 was a unique occasion. The UK hosted the Games and our athletes performed extraordinarily well.

“Because of our status as the host nation, Royal Mail chose to mark the achievement of our athletes through gold post boxes as well as stamps.

“Royal Mail will not be creating gold post boxes for the winter Olympics 2018.”