Paralympian Lee Pearson gets gold medal postbox in Bagnall

Pearson has won a gold, silver and bronze at the London Paralympics

A Staffordshire postbox has been painted gold in honour of Lee Pearson winning an equestrian gold medal.

Royal Mail painted the postbox in School Road, Bagnall, to mark the 38-year-old's victory in the team event at the Paralympics.

Pearson, who has also won a silver and bronze, missed out on beating the 11-gold mark of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and swimmer Dave Roberts.

Overall, the equestrian team has won a total of 11 medals.

'Testament to Lee'

The medal haul has been described as "fantastic" by David Hunter, performance manager of Great Britain's Paralympics equestrian team.

He said Sophie Christiansen, Deborah Criddle, Sophie Wells, Natasha Baker and Lee Pearson - who won five golds, five silvers and a bronze - had exceeded his high expectations.

He added that it was "testament to Lee and his character" that although he might not have achieved personally what he was hoping to have done, he has got medals.

"I'm very proud of him as well," Mr Hunter said.

Individual first class stamps, featuring Pearson's image are also set to go on sale on Friday.

Pearson was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, meaning the muscles in his arms and legs grew in the womb as scar tissue.

The postbox is one of about 80 that have so far been painted gold by Royal Mail in honour of Britain's winning athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.