A BRADFORD postbox has been turned blue in tribute to the work of the NHS.

The colour scheme has gone down a storm with locals according to the man behind the makeover Kieran Basra, who runs the Bierley Superstore and Post Office on Hambledon Avenue.

He said: "It's a good illustration for thanking the NHS.

"It's gone absolutely mad, people have liked it so much they have stopped their cars."

He said he had come up with the idea after reading about post boxes being painted blue elsewhere in the UK. He asked painter James Cavan to give it a new look as he was giving the Premier store a makeover already.

Mr Basra's children, twins Dev and Maya, designed the new colour scheme which incorporates a rainbow and the words 'Thank you NHS'. He said they were chuffed with how it looked.

He said the tribute would only be short-lived and he would get it painted back to the usual pillar box red later.

He thought it was the first blue one in the North of England.

"It's a good way to show those on the frontline we are thanking them," he added.

Mr Cavan even discovered a layer of blue paint below the red when he was preparing the pillar box. According to the Post Office website blue was once used for airmail in some British cities and locations of note during 1930 to separate it from regular post.