OAPs' sit-in over post office closures

About 40 were expected to join a mock queue outside Fourboys, London Road, East Grinstead.

It will become the town centre's only post office if plans to close nearby branches in Lingfield Road and at North End go ahead.

The Post Office also wants to shut branches in Queens Road and Sunte Avenue, Haywards Heath.

Campaign organiser Gini Monson said queues at the counter can already reach 40.

She said: "If we lose the fight to keep our two neighbourhood post office services we shall need to prepare parents with youngsters, the disabled, and vulnerable pensioners for far longer waits.

"Christmas will be a guide but I think the closures could mean people queuing outside in the cold.

"Unfortunately the closures, if they come, may well be the death knell to the neighbourhood stores on which the least mobile in our communities depend.

The closures would damage communities - "In East Grinstead and at Haywards Heath the two proposed closures serve neighbourhoods side by side.

"Four communities face a two-mile round trip to pick up pensions, pay bills, and look forward to a chat and possibly a bit of local news."

Town and district councillor Steve Barnet said: "This is purely an attempt by the Government to close urban post offices and they are being very economical with the information they put out."

District councillor Anne Jones said: "For pensions and benefits, most people use the post office. The elderly and disabled do not have a voice.

"For elderly people sometimes going to the post office is a very important part of their social life."

Town mayor Beverley Heaseman said she was going to drop by the queue today.

She promised tea in the mayor's parlour to anyone who correctly predicted the number of people queuing when she planned to arrive.

A public consultation into the proposed branch closures ends on Tuesday December 23.

A Post Office spokesman said: "Comments and letters will all be considered during the decision making process."