James Kilner

A Sub-Postmaster has admitted he would never have bought his post office had he known that the Government was planning to shake up the benefit payments system.

Stephen Garside, sub-postmaster of Brockfield Post Office, Huntington, York, supports our Counter Attack campaign Picture: Steven Bradshaw

Stephen Garside, 52, invested in Brockfield Post Office, in Huntington, York, in 1997 to ensure a comfortable retirement after 30 years in the motor trade.

Now he is facing the loss of a third of his income with the Government's plans to pay as many benefits as possible into bank accounts rather than at post offices.

"If your company said to you that it was cutting your wages by a third, how would that make you feel? It is going to be very hard for me because I have put all my money into the post office."

More than 100 regular customers of Brockfield Post Office have sent in voting forms to the Evening Press to pledge their support for Mr Garside's business.

He said: "People just do not want to have their benefits paid into the bank, whether they have a bank account or not. But it's a knock-on effect. If people do not go to the post office, they do not go to the butchers next door and so on."

Mr Garside added: "For some older people, the only time they meet anyone during the week is when they go to the post office.

"They chat to us about the most amazing things and we help them fill in forms. Sometimes, they have no one else to turn to for advice.

"We are not just a cash dispenser, we are a public service."

Customer Clare Flanagan said: "I collect all my pensions and benefits from my local post office. It would create huge problems for me and my family if we had no local post office."

Louise Winn also often uses the Brockfield Post Office. She said: "The big banks are already making extortionate and obscene profits. If the state retirement pensions are paid into banks, how long will it be before we are charged for using these banks?"

The number of Counter Attack forms sent in by readers worried about the future of their local sub-post office has passed the 1,000 mark and is still rising. Here are some of the replies from readers.

HUNTINGTON: "In addition to its many useful services for those who, like me, have no car, it forms a focal point to encourage our few local shops to stay open. It is essential to both traders and customers that our smaller local shops, already declining, have a chance to offer their personal, social and immediate service" - M Hunt.

ALNE: "We have lost a pub, a bus service and we do not want to lose out post office as this would mean we lose our shop as well. This would be the end of village life for us" - Mrs A Hutchinson.

LEAVENING: It serves the whole community and as we are six miles from the next post office, it will be expensive and difficult for young and old (if it closes)" - Mrs G Murphy.

CRICHTON AVENUE, YORK: "It is handy for me, a 90-year-old, I don't have to carry my pension far in these days of crime" - Mrs L Bulmer.

GREEN HAMMERTON: "Everything you need is at this post office. Looking after elderly relatives, who has time to go to York or Harrogate? Nobody" - R Hill.

BISHOPTHORPE: "The post office is crucial for maintaining the local community" - J Hayes.

Heslington: "It is the only post office near the university and is, therefore, relied upon by thousands of students, as well as being the only one in Heslington village" - Chris Bluemel.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.