Police in Haverfordwest are investigating a fire in the Castle Square post box which started shortly before9pm last night (Sunday).

A fire crew from Haverfordwest was called to the fire in the free standing post box near to the Castle Hotel.

They spent around half an hour extinguishing the blaze, using one hose reel jet.

A Royal Mail spokesman said that about 40 items of damaged mail were retrieved from the box.

Half a dozen posted items were completely ruined, with a few items partly burned and the rest affected by water damage.

All the recoverable mail will be posted on together with a letter of apology for the state of the items.

The postbox was cleaned and is currently in use.

Customers who are concerned about mail posted in the Castle Square postbox after the last collection at 12.15 pm on Saturday, should contact Royal Mail Customer Services on 08457 740740.

"We deplore mindless acts of vandalism like this and treat any attack on a postbox very seriously indeed," said the spokesman.

"Every item of mail is important to us and we would encourage anyone with information about this incident to contact the police."

Police in Haverfordwest are asking anyone who saw people acting suspiciously in the vicinity of the post box before 9pm last night to contact Haverfordwest police station on 0845 330 2000.