VANCOUVER, Wash. – A mailman who confessed to destroying trees along his Vancouver route claims he was trying to protect his truck.

The mailman told KGW off camera that he had repeatedly asked the city to trim back branches so they didn't knock into his mail truck. He said that when the city didn't respond, he took matters into his own hands.

He said he knows what he did was wrong but he had no idea it would cause such an uproar and he's very sorry.

Dozens of fruit trees were damaged.

“I stopped counting at 30,” said First Place neighbor Susan Page.

Police have not released the mailman's name.

Neighbors say that for 10 days, the mailman delivered a headache along with their mail. Initially, they thought kids were responsible for the damage.

Then some of the neighbors caught him in the act.

 Photos: Mailman & damage

“I just looked outside and there was the mailman reaching up way on the side pulling off another branch,” neighbor Verna Sansom told KGW. “He has destroyed my trees and he should be responsible.”

The damage is all over the First Place neighborhood.

U.S. Postal Service spokesman Ron Anderson said the mail carrier confessed to the crime and has apologized to several neighbors. The mailman is under investigation; however, he's still working the same route.

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“In almost 30 years in the postal service, this has got to be one of the most unusual circumstances I've ever seen,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the postal service will compensate home owners for their loss.

But what neighbor said they really want is a new mailman.

“He felt the trees were hitting his truck, but these trees aren't anywhere near a postal box,” Page said. “Maybe that's his calling -- to be a landscaper, or he wants to be an arborist, I don't know. But we need him gone.”

For now they'll have to settle for a promise.

“We will take corrective action to make sure it never happens again,” Anderson said.

According to the postal service, the mailman is being disciplined, but officials won’t specify how.

“He's got 247 homes watching him, and if he's smart, he'll be on his best behavior,” Page said.