Some 350 people have already put pen to paper to keep their lifeline open. It is one of five around Bognor Regis threatened with the axe by Post Office Ltd.

The closing date for consultations about the proposals is March 10. A final decision will be made in April with the chosen branches forced to shut the following month.

The South Bersted branch, in Gordon Avenue, serves a large number of residential streets as well as businesses on the Durban Road estate.

If it closes, the nearest branches will either be the main post office in the High Street or Durlston Drive in North Bersted.

Postmaster Pat Patel said: "People are very angry about the threatened closure. Many of them have been here possibly twice as long as I have.
"They see the post office is quite busy all the time and can't understand why it should have to close."

Mr Patel has run the branch since 1983, apart from a year's absence in the late 1990s.

"I feel the post office more or less belongs to the community rather than me. I am just the guardian," he stated. He pointed out that plans to develop the nearby Lec site would create another major development which the post office would be serving in a few years' time.

Freda Elcombe, the manager of The Poplars residential park on Shripney Road, said: "We will do everything we can on the park to keep this post office open.

"The 170 residents of the park are absolutely devastated by the thought of this post office closing. It is their lifeline.

"They will not be able to get into the centre. Many of them have not got cars and the bus service is so pathetic – every 75 minutes with none from the town centre between 1.30pm and 4pm – that it will be absolutely tragic if this branch goes."

The constant presence of TV adverts boasting that the post office was the people's post office, and featuring highly-paid stars, was irritating when people were fighting for the survival of their local branch, she stated.

Highfield Road resident Barbara Holcombe said: "The post office has been here for as long as I can remember and I'm nearly 80.

"It's terrible that this post office might close. I use it every day.

"It will be a real blow to the area if it closes and it will be sadly missed.

"It will be so busy in the town centre post office that I don't think I will be going there. I'm going to have to get my daughter to drive me to Durlston Drive instead."

County councillor Francis Oppler, who is also involved in trying to save the Hawthorn Road Post Office. said: "This branch is the hub of the community and it's a real heart of this area. This threatened closure is really attacking people in the community who are least able to get into town."

The post office is sited within a convenience store which Mr Patel said would continue after any closure. Other branches earmarked for the axe are: Station Road; Hawthorn Road; Aldwick in Tudor News, Aldwick Street; and Craigweil in Barrack Lane.