12861/3 SHOCK plans by supermarket giant Tesco to close the Post Office at a convenience store on the edge of Devizes have devastated pensioners who live nearby.

Today, the Gazette, with the backing of MP Michael Ancram, is launching a campaign to save the Post Office at the One Stop shop in Eastleight Road.

Pensioners living in the surrounding Avenues area say they will be left high and dry if Tesco succeeds in its plans to close their local post office.

Residents were concerned to read notices at the store last week saying that Tesco, which took over the One Stop chain nearly two years ago, plans to convert the community store to a Tesco Express, selling a wider range of commodities.

But Tesco said it will need to use the space taken up by the post office for selling food and household goods.

Pensioner Hazel Norrington said: "This is going to affect a lot of people. There are many older people round here who collect their pensions from this post office. But they also use it for a lot of other things and the staff in there are wonderful. They are always ready to help you fill in a form or explain things to you.

"I have breathing problems, so there is no way I can walk into town to use the post office at Sainsbury's. I don't know what I will do when the post office closes at the store."

Other pensioners were also concerned. June Griffiths said: "People want a post office where it is convenient for them, not to have to walk miles just to buy a stamp."

Shirley Crisp, who also lives in Eastleigh Road, said: "Not all of us have bank accounts and cars. They should be making it easier for us to use the post office, not more difficult."

Gazette editor Gary Lawrence said: "We deplore the fact that a huge company like Tesco can ride roughshod over the needs of a community just to make sell some extra groceries.

"This closure will seriously affect the lives of many elderly customers and canot be allowed to happen.''

Mr Ancram called Tesco's decision to close the post office a retrograde step. He said: "I fully support the Gazette's campaign to keep the post office open and I will be writing to Tesco to ask it to reconsider.

"There are problems with sub post offices closing all over my constituency, as well as problems that have been brought on by the changes in rules affecting the payment of pensions."

Tesco's plan also took councillors by surprise. Town councillor Noel Woolrych, who uses the post office for his computer business, said: "This is appalling. We had a big enough struggle when the Royal Mail closed the main post office in Devizes and moved it to Budgens, but it looks like we will have to go through all that again.

"Not everyone has a car and it will cause great problems for older and disabled people in the area if they have to go all the way into town."

Staff at the store were only told about the plans two weeks ago and notices went up in the shop last week.

Manager Barbara Roberts said the conversion will not take place until an alternative post office has been opened close by and certainly not before September when the store will close for four weeks for a complete refurbishment.

She said: "In addition to the notices we have up in the shop inviting people to apply, we are talking individually to those of our customers who we feel might be looking for a business opportunity. So far I have one man who is seriously interested. You don't have to have posh premises. You could operate from your front room.

"It is a really good deal. Tesco is not asking for any money to hand over the franchise. You could open a shop, sell a few cards and stationery and have a really nice little business going."

The staff say they will be sorry to see the post office close. It is the only place in the Devizes area where large National Lottery wins can be paid out.

Mrs Roberts said: "It is so lovely having people come in to pick up the money. One man had just got married again late in life and he picked up a cheque for £5,000. We are really going to miss that sort of thing."

Judy Coom, who is opening a branch of her Upstairs Downstairs antiques and collectibles shop in Eastleigh Road, said she is looking into the possibilities of opening a post office in her new premises. Anyone opposing the closure of the post office can write to the Gazette at the address on Page 8.

All letters will then be forwarded to Tesco. Anyone interested in opening their own post office should contact Johnson Fellows on 0121 643 9337.