LOWTON'S senior citizens turned up to collect their pensions on Monday to find the shutters down at the local Post Office.

The Lowton St Mary's premises on St Helen's Road were closed after an interim sub-postmaster decided to quit.

This week the Post Office apologised for the inconvenience.

On Monday anguished pensioners contacted local councillor Mark Hale in a bid to find out what was happening.

On Tuesday he said: "People were arriving this morning not knowing what to do. It is a disappointment that the Post Office didn't see fit to put a notice in the window. "It is important this office is kept open; it is an integral part of the village. The nearest ones are a fair distance away and would be difficult for the elderly and disabled to reach without transport."

A Post Office spokesman said: "We will have the premises re-opened as soon as we can. It is unfortunate but we are doing our utmost to find a new stand-in sub postmaster.

"For about eight weeks the Lowton office has been managed by a replacement, who indicated out of the blue that she no longer wished to carry on.

"That left us in the position of trying to find another as quickly as possible, but we have been unsuccessful.

"The closure was unforeseen and we apologise to our customers.

"There should be a notice in the window where pensions can be collected in the meantime, but we do intend to get the doors open as soon as we can with a new permanent manager."

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