The same ones who fire shotguns at stop & sens-interdit signs probably.
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Sometimes kids find amusement where they can. Might have given them some kudos in front of younger ones to bash your letter box around.
I wouldn’t think that it was just broken into with that amount of force and was more for entertainment of the little yobbos we all have to live with wherever we are.
Above all put it to the back of your mind now and don’t dwell on it as those who did it might like you to do.
Hopefully it will never happen again.
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From the photos it is the bottom of the box that has been ripped away. The front of the box has been bent inwards towards the back indicating a horizontal force being applied from the front towards the back causing the relatively weak folded joints between the sides of the box and the bottom plate to fail. I would suggest that this was either an impact from a rearward projection of a vehicle reversing into the gateway in order to turn around, or alternatively some drunken lad demonstrating his karate kick skills to his mates.
I doubt that it was any attempt at theft as it would have been far too noisy for the likes of burglar Bill. I personally favour a reversing vehicle where the noise of the engine would have masked the fairly gentle noise of the impact and thus no reaction from the dogs.
Careful examination of the front door of the box may yield a clue.
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I have a feeling yopu might be right, after all how easy is it to profit in money terms from a theft of the contents of a box? Merely taking a chance on being worthwhile going to all that noisy trouble seems unlikely to me.
As I said above I have had my box effectively open for over 3 decades without a raid.
Strangely though, for a year or so after I bought a new one, having damaged the old one myself, I used the old door, placed on top to save me from creating a new name tag. One day that disappeared. 
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Spare parts to order? Just like thefts from cars for bits like glovebox doors, wing mirrors etc
As I said though, hardly worth the effort required I would have thought.
My money is on either accident or larkingaboutism.
That’s a bit naughty can-opening a letterbox, and unusual.
I assumed that there was some honour amongst thieves - régles des cambriolages; you don’t knick from letterboxes and you don’t steal winter wood stacks.
Maybe I should downgrade my rose-tinted glasses.
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Never heard of any real crime around here (apart from minor juvenile stuff such as graffiti) until this week. The neighbouring farmer seems to have had 15 sheep stolen from the field next to our house.
Where we used to live it was a problem. Not individual household stacks but the foresters’ enormous stacks were vulnerable. They were generally marked and painted - which doesn’r stop theft but at least they knew it was happening so could take extra measures.
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Well that’s no fun.
I don’t suppose you’ll ever find out how it happened but hopefully it’s a one-off.
As nobody has yet suggested it, my money is on aliens from the Planet Thaarg.
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Dear Rob
Unfortunately I think your views on people not stealing other peoples wood from their stackpiles in gardens is no longer true. Never experienced it myself, other than 3 people coming out of our garden once when we were not around carrying a branch of firewood. One of our neighbours told us in a message. She never confronted them so we’ll never know what was going on. I thought their needs must be bigger than mine and it was only one log too. However I read recently that because the price of firewood has increased à lot over the years it’s now seen as fair game to take some from other people’s woodpiles. Hopefully this is unlikely still. We all have to get by in life
Jane. We have seen those huge piles of wood with little alarms on them now. Hope this isn’t the case everywhere
Yes, but that’s a biscuit after all! Completely different scenario! 
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Would I be right in thinking you have a police background? That’s a very accurate assesment by you, having now looked more closely at the ex-letter box.
I’m pleased to say the fence remained completely intact, and the new letter box is now in situ….
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That’s no letter box, it’s a portal into an alternate space-time continuum.
Told you it was aliens…
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What I have heard about is limited to opportunistic thefts. Very few fortunately. Not surprising with a pop density of 17/km 2
Now that one can see the relationship to the road I can see how it could easily have been one of those fairly small dropside wagons so favoured by jobbing builders and paysagistes. Reversing round towards the passenger side in the dark it could be the case that the driver didn’t know he had hit the box. The underbody of the truck would be high enough to clear the fence but not the box. You may wish to consider ‘decorating’ your new box with some reflective tape.
The old one (once trimmed a bit), might look nice upside down with some trailing ivy leaved geraniums planted there in. Sort of a ‘boite au fleurs’. 
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[quote=“ChrisMann, post:35, topic:58167”]
Told you it was aliens…
[/quote] Resistance is futile
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