THE bleating of sub-postmasters around St Helens as they bemoan the fact that many sub-post offices may be forced to close due to new technology is, to my mind, laughable.

For many years these self-same sub-post offices have closed for lunch everyday for up to two hours, have shut for half-a-day during the week and operated mornings only on a Saturday.

Arrive with a particularly bulky parcel and the looks you get may very well kill you. Pick the wrong time or wrong day for your visit and you are left with a trek to the main post office in St Helens town centre.

Post offices should be for people who wish to send mail, not social centres for pensioners or drop-in centres for benefit claimants.

'TENTH in the queue', Dave Kendall, Forest Grove, Prescot.