ROYAL Mail customers are outraged at a massive break from tradition, with some calling on the King to intervene.
After 125 years of vans delivering the mail in its historic red, the postal service has sneakily been using white vans since late last year.
Royal Mail admitted that it had bought 800 white vans before Christmas, but said that red remains the colour of 40,000 of its vehicles.
A Royal Mail spokesperson claimed the change was temporary and that the vans would gradually be repainted- but some customers are unconvinced.
Simon Howell, 63, “stopped in his tracks”; when his local postman dropped off his mail using a white van last Wednesday in Porlock, Somerset.
He told the Telegraph how he stopped and questioned his postman: “I said, ‘My goodness me, what are you in?’
“And he said, ‘What do you think?’”
Howell told the postman he was “not very impressed”;, adding that “the new white van look”; is “not very distinguished.”
The postman completely agreed, telling Howell that “frankly, I’m not very happy either.”;
Howell thought that the new colour was chosen because “they are always the cheapest option”;, but thought that the king’s insignia on the side didn’t “look very good.”
He added: “My view is Charles, our dear King, needs to do something about it.”
Social media users flocked to agree that the vans looked “cheap and nasty”;
Perhaps that is because they are cheaper.
One postman reported that his office already had three new white delivery vans, and that they would eventually become “standard nationwide.”;
He wrote: “They’re cheaper, easier to sell on, and easier to brand when the inevitable happens.”;
Another pointed out that engraving a small logo is much cheaper than “large custom wraps.”;
One jokester begged: “Won’t someone think of Postman Pat?”;
But another pointed out that whilst “iconic”; Pat was a “terrible postie”; every episode he lost some “important mail.”;
Some argued that due to the massive increase in pressure on the post service during Christmas, it often commandeered a temporary extra fleet of vans.
But they are still being spotted months later.
Historian, Dr Francis Young, has also spotted white Royal Mail vans doing the rounds in Yaxley, Cambridgeshire.
He thought it odd that they had bothered to paint the King’s crest, “while not making sure that the van is the right colour,”; arguing any other colour than the signature red was “bizarre.”;
He added: “The vans look like Royal Mail vans that someone just forgot to paint.”;
Young pointed out that the iconic royal red is one of the most recognised brands in the world, and is a symbol of British livery.
Theme parks in China and Italy have even got British themes, recreating the famous red postboxes, telephone boxes and busses.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Our red vans are iconic and a key part of our brand. Nearly all of our 40,000 delivery vehicles are red, and that is not changing.
“Before the busy Christmas period, several vans, which were white, became available to purchase. These were additions, not replacements, and make up just over two per cent of our existing fleet.
“We have started to repaint them red.”;
