A post box is painted gold to celebrate Olympics wins

Royal Mail has begun painting post boxes gold to celebrate every Team GB gold medal win during the London 2012 Olympic Games, with wins during the Paralympic Games also set to be celebrated in the same unique way.

Post boxes in the home town of the winning athletes will be painted gold whenever possible, a statement confirmed, and will complement the gold-medal stamps being issued within hours of each victory.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: ‘This will be a unique, highly visible and fitting way to recognise the successes of Team GB and ParalympicsGB during this summer’s global sporting events. The UK is believed to be the first country to paint its post boxes gold to celebrate Olympic and Paralympic gold medal wins.

‘A dedicated team will be on standby to transform the specially selected post boxes within days of a win. To celebrate a gold medal win by teams of more than two competitors, the post box chosen to be painted gold will be in a location relevant to all team members.’