Fans of Andy Murray have picked off gold paint covering the postbox which was decorated in memory of his Olympic success.

Royal Mail staff are now being forced to repaint the box on Dunblane’s High Street which was one of a series across the UK commemorating gold medal winners.

Murray’s was painted on Monday to commemorate his Wimbledon singles win over Roger Federer.

But the Royal Mail says substantial amounts of the gold paint are no longer there, with visitors to the town being blamed.

They said in a statement: "Everybody just wants a piece of the success and their own little bit of golden postbox. We don't see it as vandalism, but we will be touching it up over the next few days."

Meanwhile, the postbox that was painted gold in Jessica Ennis's home city of Sheffield has been repainted after it was tarnished with graffiti.

"Go Jess" was written in small letters on the box near Sheffield City Hall within 24 hours of it being painted.

Royal Mail said it applied a new coat of paint quickly as "a point of pride".

It added that it was "extremely disappointed that someone has chosen to vandalise the gold postbox", which has become a tourist attraction since it was transformed the day after Ennis won gold in the heptathlon.

Sheffield City Council leader Julie Dore said: "We are all so proud of Jess and her fantastic success. This is our moment to shine so what a shame it is that someone has chosen to tarnish this by vandalising a postbox painted gold in honour of our local hero. I hope they feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves."

In Edinburgh, a second postbox was painted gold in Sir Chris Hoy's home city today in honour of the keirin victory which saw him become Britain's most successful Olympian.

Edinburgh now boasts two gold postboxes in the city centre. The latest box to have a colour change stands in Hunter Square, just off the Royal Mile in the Old Town.

Royal Mail last week painted a red postbox gold on the corner of Hanover Street and Princes Street when Sir Chris won a gold medal in the team sprint.

Michael Hogg, of Royal Mail, said today: "We wanted to congratulate the athletes who won gold in the London Olympics. Everybody wants to live near one of these gold postboxes - it's just captured the public's imagination.

"I think it's really good for Edinburgh. You can see the people here all wanting a piece of the action, all wanting to be next to one of the gold postboxes sprouting all over the country."

Engineer Owen Smith, who applied the paint, began the work in the early hours of this morning.

He said: "At 3.30am I was here putting two coats of undercoat on the box. After that, I was waiting for it to dry and adding coat after coat. It's had four coats in all."

Mr Smith previously turned the box from red to gold in Dunblane and Peebles, in honour of Scott Brash's team victory in showjumping.

He added: "The whole Scottish contingency has done really well with the medals they've brought back. It's brilliant."

Scotland now boasts a total of seven gold postboxes around the country, honouring the recent achievements of its top sportsmen and women.

Sir Chris's second win in the velodrome also means another gold medal stamp bearing his image is being released. The stamp shows a picture of the cyclist holding the union flag over his head after the winning race.

It will be on sale in more than 500 post offices across the UK, including the three main post offices in the Scottish capital.

Sir Chris's victory in the velodrome last night saw him climb above Sir Steve Redgrave, the five-time Olympic rowing champion, in the number of gold medals won.