Residents in Horsham have called on Royal Mail to "clean up their act", as the growing scandal surrounding counterfeit stamps continues.

This comes as sources close to the postal service claim the counterfeit stamps are allegedly being circulated across the UK by China.

A Royal Mail investigation was sparked after an exclusive GB News investigation found that customers were being charged for counterfeit stamps, despite them being bought from reputable Post Office branches.

Speaking to Britons today, residents in the Sussex town told GB News said the development was "shocking" and will have a "knock on impact" on the Royal Mail.

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Locals also fumed at the increasing costs of using the postal service, complaining how "expensive" it is to post letters when we can "just send a text now".

One market stall owner said that "eventually, the postal service just won't exist anymore".

Speaking to GB News reporter Ray Addison, another resident of Horsham said they are "concerned" that the wholesalers are "getting the stamps mixed up in their supplies", and "raises questions as to where they get their stamps from".

He told Ray: "People are not going to trust stamps anymore if that's the case, and we'll be using other couriers, because they have a more legitimate system."

When asked if he would be able to spot a fake stamp, the resident admitted he "wouldn't have a clue" as there's "so many different stamps".

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He explained: "You can get the different patterns and pictures and stuff on them, it's not like there's only one stamp. I could spot a fake £5 note, I don't think I could spot a fake stamp."

Hitting out at the rise in counterfeit goods on Britain's public markets, an aviation worker told GB News that he sees "millions of fake aviation parts going around, and Britain now "has a problem of fakes going onto the market, and have you spot them".

Slamming Royal Mail, the worker fumed: "Currently they're going through a PR trap, quite rightly so. And they really need to smarten up their act.

"The fact that you can actually have fake stamps on the market that have not been produced officially is a worry."

Ray spoke to another Horsham resident who had just posted a letter, and she admitted that "if it is fake, it's terrible".

She said of the scandal: "They're going through a bad time at the moment. I'm confident as much as anyone that my stamp was real. I just have to post it and hope that it's real."

A Royal Mail spokesman told PA: "We are working hard to remove counterfeit stamps from circulation.

"We regularly monitor online marketplaces to detect suspicious activity, such as sales of heavily discounted stamps and work closely with retailers and law enforcement agencies to identify those who produce counterfeit stamps.

"We work closely with a number of police forces across the country and in recent cases we have recovered stamps with a retail value of over £250,000."