Villagers facing a mile-long round-trip to mail their letters have been told their postbox may not be returned, because a substitute lies just 100m too close.

The brick column postbox was installed on the corner of Manor Rise and and Yeoman Lane in Bearsted shortly after the Queen's coronation, 70 years ago.

But Royal Mail demolished it in November after being struck by traffic for a second time.

In a letter to Bearsted Parish Council, Royal Mail said it would investigate whether it was obliged to replace the box.

Legislation requires there to be one within half a mile of any address (for 98% of the country), but the nearest substitute is on Bearsted Green, 0.46 miles away.

It means it is just 100m too close for the village to qualify.

David Cockerham, a Manor Rise resident for 19 years, said: "For the many elderly people who live in our neighbourhood, that will be round-trip of almost a mile to post a letter with the return leg up some quite steep hills which are not easy going for them."

He said: "If Royal Mail are adopting a policy of saving money by scrapping mail boxes whenever they can get away with it - well, it's not the idea that we were sold that the privatisation of Royal Mail would lead to improved service."

When the box was first hit early last year, Royal Mail dithered about repairing it but gave way to public opinion in April of last year. They demolished the damaged box and rebuilt it.

However when the box was hit again in November, Royal Mail demolished the postbox but have not so far replaced it.

The old postbox had been made of cast-iron by the Lion Foundry Co Ltd of Kirkintilloch - on the Clyde.

At the time, the firm had the contract both for the GPO’s (General Post Office) pillar boxes and the classic red telephone booths.

It was the termination of the telephone box orders that drove the company out of business about 37 years ago.