U-turn over repainting of Olympian's gold post box after outcry

Peter Kennaugh won gold in the men's cycling pursuit team at the London 2012 Olympics

A Manx Olympian has expressed his joy that a post box painted gold in his honour will be returned to the colour.

There was public outcry after the box in Onchan, which was painted gold after Peter Kennaugh's win at the 2012 London Olympics, was repainted red.

In a U-turn, Isle of Man Post Office has now announced it will be changed back.

Mr Kennaugh, who was part of the men's cycling pursuit team, said his children would be "made up" at the decision.

The Manx Olympian, who found out about the change in colour through messages online, said it had been a "nice little memory of 2012" whenever he drove past.

He said it had also been a way to explain to his children, who were born after the event, about his win, and the family would visit "Daddy's post box" to send letters to Santa Claus.

The post box was painted red again after 10 years of being gold

Post office chief executive Simon Kneen said: "Our decision had been to return the post box back to its uniform colour 10 years after painting it gold.

"However the disappointment of many is clear and we are happy to listen to customers and return the box gold."

In 2012 Royal Mail confirmed post boxes repainted to celebrate Britain's Olympic and Paralympic champions would remain gold on a permanent basis.

Mr Kennaugh said the Manx post office's U-turn was down to "people power" and showed how strong the community spirit was on the island.

He said the reason so many cyclists from the Isle of Man were successful was because of "that strong community that really pushes everyone on", and the strength of feeling over the post box was a "a prime example" of that.