ROYAL Mail's reported plan to close up to 280 post offices will be a significant blow to a great many elderly people.

As Britain's largest provider of private sheltered housing, we know that many pensioners still reply on the post office as their source of cash for everyday spending.

Indeed, when choosing sites for new developments locally, we still place great importance on having a post office and other public amenities nearby.

Those of us lucky enough to be freely mobile, or to have a home computer for banking by internet, perhaps don't worry so much about the loss of post office counters -- although they are all part of a depressing picture of public services in decline.

We have already seen rural post offices decimated over the last 15 years; now we face the loss of up to half of Britain's 560 town centre branches.

The situation is not helped by the major banks closing long-established branches in the high street. Yes, there are more cashpoints, but elderly people are understandably wary of using credit cards and cash machines in the open street. They like to deal with human beings.

To the older person, the post office is more than a convenience -- it is part of the community they live in. Shutting local branches can only mean more reliance on the car or public transport, bring added expense to the user and more damage to the environment.

And it's not only people needing their pension money who are affected. Where do you take a parcel to be weighed if the post office has gone?

Almost every public service you can think of, from railways to refuse collection, seems unable to grasp the concept of "service" these days, while continually raising costs. Do they not understand the well-proven saying "The customer is king?"

KEITH LOVELOCK, Chief Executive, McCarthy and Stone plc, Altrincham.