Royal Mail has admitted it was “blown away” by the demand for stamps featuring Penzance Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover.

Helen, who took gold in the women's pairs rowing with partner Heather Stanning, appears on special first class stamps that went on sale the day after their Olympic victory.

Such was the demand, however, that within an hour of going on sale Penzance Crown Post Office had run out. This was despite being given double the volume of special stamps the branch received for the Royal Wedding last year - the last time that stamps were produced to celebrate a national event.

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail said that the company had anticipated a “significant interest” in the stamps, but added: “The level of demand from people in Penzance wanting to buy stamps to celebrate blew us away - with all the gold medal stamps selling out in an hour.

“We have of course restocked the post office there and we are having to revise upwards our projections of demand for gold medal stamps by people in our Olympic heroes' home towns.”

It was a similar story in Helston, where stamps sold out within the morning of the supply day.