STAFF at a Malvern post office have spoken of their shock after a Poppy Appeal box was stolen from the premises.

The red RBL Poppy Appeal collection box went missing from the front counter of Great Malvern Post Office in Abbey Road, Malvern, between 9am and noon on Thursday, November 8.

Sub-postmaster Nigel Morris said staff realised the box had gone after a customer went to make a donation. He said: “There must have been quite a bit in there.

“We saw some notes going in it.”

Mr Morris said after the theft, they kept collecting for the Poppy Appeal and kept the money in a separate compartment in the till so had something to hand over to the charity.

He said pinching money from a charity was the lowest form of crime.

“Firstly there’s the element of shoplifting, which at this time of year increases everywhere,”

he said. “But that’s your stuff and it’s yours to sort out but this is for a good cause.

“You can’t get much lower really can you than pinching from a charity.

You’re trying to help by collecting for them and in some ways you feel responsible that it’s been taken.”

A spokesman for West Mercia Police confirmed they had reports of the collection being stolen sometime between 5pm on October 27 and noon on Thursday, November 8.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police on 101, quoting 0309/S/131112.