Thousands of post offices across the country are set to be closed

A report by the National Consumer Council (NCC) claims that some of the places worst hit when a post office shuts, are residential areas on the outskirts of cities such as Leeds, Nottingham and Cardiff.

Mary Bird, 54, is from Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. Her local post office in Cross Heath shut down in 2005.

She says along with it went a crucial focal point for the residents of a nearby sheltered housing complex, in an area that is otherwise heavily deprived.

According to the NCC report, elderly people are among those who most depend on local services, and they are often the ones who are least able to campaign for them to stay open.

A lot of the elderly people in the bungalows, this was the only outing for them in the day Mary Bird

Mrs Bird says the postmaster did far more than just sell stamps.

He provided chairs for the pensioners so they could sit and talk, he helped his customers fill out forms, and he even delivered their groceries.

She said: "There were these old people's bungalows that were near and he was excellent with them. As well as elderly people, there were a lot of people with limited literacy skills.

"A lot of the elderly people in the bungalows, this was the only outing for them in the day. They would go up there and meet each other and buy their stamps."

The post office was also the only nearby shop for basic groceries.

'Forced' closure

Mrs Bird said: "He had a very small shop with it. And a lot of people said to me, anything that they wanted and he didn't have it, he would make a note of it."

"Then he would deliver it to them, cash on delivery. There's no other shop near it at all, you'd have to go to town."

Mrs Bird says the closure was forced on the postmaster and was not due to a lack of profits.

"He wanted to do road tax and he wanted to do checking passports, but they just wouldn't allow it.

It was a great loss really. It was a great blow Mary Bird

"Off his own back he was a booking agent for coach trips, and you could book a coach with him and go on a day out somewhere."

She says she went herself a number of times.

The post box was removed along with the old post office, and the next nearest post office is now a mile further up the hill.

"A lot of them, they could just about walk up to where he was, but they couldn't go any further, they couldn't get up on the bus or anything. They were in sheltered housing."

What do the residents do now that the post office has shut?

Mrs Bird said: "Well, I think they have got a bit of a communal area there, but that's up to the warden to arrange it. It was more of a casual bumping into each other.