HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition to protect their local post offices.
They are concerned that branches in Musselburgh, Haddington, Dunbar and North Berwick are under threat because of a nationwide cut in local services. One-in-five post offices across the country is expected to be closed.
Community councillors have
collected around 500 signatures on a petition. They will be out on the streets this weekend to highlight their campaign and gather more support.
Local campaigner Amy Rodger said: "This is only the beginning. There is a great deal of support for post offices in East Lothian, and I will continue to tour the county to ensure that we harness that support, putting pressure on this Government to halt their crusade of cuts and closure.
"Many people have told me that they feel our post offices serve distinct communities within our county. Elderly and disabled people, as well as people without their own transport, all rely on a local post office to access vital services.
"These groups will suffer if the closure plan goes ahead, and I am fighting to ensure that this does not happen.
"Post offices are essential to the communities they serve. We should be investing in post offices, not closing them."
It is believed several branches in East Lothian may be earmarked for closure when a consultation period in August ends.
This follows the announcement in October that 44 post offices in Scotland were to be axed.
Across the UK, 2500 branches out of the 14,000-strong network are earmarked for closure after Post Office Ltd revealed that the network had lost four million customers in two years.
The full article contains 282 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
