A rail company is working to try and get a Paralympic mascot back in its rightful place welcoming visitors to Weymouth.

Mandeville was taken in by Weymouth rail station staff for repairs in January after it was knocked off its stand outside the station and suffered damage.

It was thought the figure would be quickly repaired and returned to its stand, however, several months later it is still nowhere to be seen.

Station owner and Weymouth-Waterloo operator South West Trains said it plans to fix him.

A SWT spokesman said: “We were disappointed to hear that Mandeville was damaged earlier this year.

“Mandeville was donated by the Olympics team which no longer operates and so, five years on, it is proving difficult to organise appropriate repairs.

“We will continue to work on this to make sure Mandeville is repaired and takes his rightful place outside Weymouth station as soon as possible.”

Mandeville was erected outside Weymouth station in August 2012 and was a welcoming sight to the town’s visitors. The mascot was one of 83 planted around Olympic and Paralympic venues for the 2012 Games. It was painted red, white and blue and had its feet specially planted in a sandcastle made from Weymouth Beach sand.

Olympic and Paralympic sailing events were held in the waters off Weymouth and Portland in 2012.

The cartoon mascots are meant to represent droplets of steel used to build the Olympic stadium.

Children and families helped to design the mascots, with Mandeville’s head representing elements of the three crescent shapes of the Paralympics symbol.

Mandeville is named after Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire which in 1948 organised events considered to be the precursor to the Paralympics.

Weymouth and Portland borough councillor Kate Wheller helped to unveil Mandeville in 2012 and said the mascot has been sorely missed by Weymouth’s residents.

She said: “People certainly have noticed that it has gone and it has been missed. I unveiled the statue in front of the station at the time it was erected, so I certainly have missed it.

“I believe it is in a storage area at the station and I have had every intention to go down to speak to them about getting it repaired. I have been intending to find out more and will follow it up.”