THE Royal Mail is warning that items posted at six locations in Maidstone on Wednesday night will not be delivered after they were stolen along with a collection van.

When it was taken from outside a shop in Plains Avenue, Maidstone, at 9.20am today the van contained eight bags of undelivered mail. Six had just been collected from the post boxes in Upper Road, Square Hill, the Foster Clark Estate, and the two Plains Avenue post boxes, at the junction with Loose Road and Cranbourne Avenue.

All of the mail posted at those locations between 6pm on Wednesday and 8am today was stolen. The two other missing bags contained sorted mail destined for delivery in the same area.

The Royal Mail-owned Ford Transit is unmarked. It did not bear any of the company’s logos - and has the registration BN 02 JWF.

Police are investigating the theft and anyone with information should contact Det Con Neil Gorham on 01622 608140.