Lewes councillor Ruth O'Keeffe was surprised to be given information about a town called "Loos" when she queried post office closures.

It's not the first time she has heard the name mispronounced. But it caused particular concern because the manager was trying to assure her the closures were being made on the back of detailed local knowledge.

Coun O'Keeffe said: "She kept talking about this place called Loos. She must have said it three times before I couldn't bear it any more and corrected her.

"I would question the quality of the research if they don't even know how to say the name of the place. If they weren't claiming to know so much, I would understand because Lewes is a small town but they are claiming they know it inside out."

Coun O'Keeffe said she spent weeks waiting for a reply to her letters and phone calls about the recent closure of sub-post offices in Southover and on Western Road. When a reply did arrive, she was left none the wiser.

She said: "Finally I received a letter from Jane Lynskey. I had written asking for someone to come to Lewes to talk to local people from several church congregations who would like to know more about setting up community post offices.

"She thanked me for commenting on the proposed closure of the Church Lane post office in Malling and declined to come to Lewes to meet me.

"I hadn't written to them about the Church Lane branch. It's not even in my ward. It made you think they'd just read the first sentence and ignored the rest."

Coun O'Keeffe called Mrs Lynskey, a senior member of the national consultation team responsible for researching the issues surrounding branch closures.

She said: "Mrs Lynskey assured me everything that had been done in Lewes was as a result of gaining detailed knowledge about the town but she did not know there was a steep hill between Southover and the main post office and lots of elderly people in Southover say they can't make it up the hill, which in some places is nearly vertical.

"She again refused to consider someone coming to Lewes. She said the Post Office wanted to close post offices not open them and it wasn't really worth us trying to pursue it."

A spokesman for Post Office Ltd said Mrs Lynskey would not necessarily have done the research into Lewes herself.

He said: "Others would have known how to pronounce the name correctly. We did reply to Mrs O'Keeffe's letters. I would refute some of the wording Mrs Lynskey is alleged to have used in their conversation but there are too many urban Post Offices serving too few customers.

"Demand for public meetings outstripped availability but a representative would be happy to meet Coun O'Keeffe if a request was made."

Last month Post Office Ltd announced it was proposing to close its Church Lane facility, the third in Lewes this year.

Anyone wanting to comment on the proposal was asked to write to the national consultation team by November 18.