The Post Office (PO) in its wisdom is proposing to close the post office in Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, at the beginning of May 2008.

I am sure that there are many of us who are utterly horrified by this move and I think we need to let the PO know it.

They have an email address where you can register your comments which is consultation@postoffice.co.uk which is open until March 10, 2008.

This post office, which is situated inside Knights at the corner of Woodthorpe and Chesterfield, is the only one serving the top half of Ashford, which includes Ashford Crescent and Station Crescent and the adjoining road the area from St Hilda's Church right up to the Kings Fairway and out to Brookside Avenue.

This post office also serves a number of local businesses who are appalled at this decision.

If this PO is closed, you have three other choices of local post offices in Edinburgh Drive, Convent Road Ashford (which is right at the other end of Ashford) or Clare Road in Stanwell.

Or, of course, you can go to the new one in WH Smith's in Staines which opens about the time this one is due to close.

This decision seems to be made entirely on the financial throughput of each office and as the one in Edinburgh Drive processes car tax renewals it obviously has a higher throughput than Woodthorpe Road.

Perhaps we should suggest that they look at the turnover of both post offices with the car tax renewals removed, I think that this would probably prove that Woodthorpe Road does more business and that a better solution would be to move the car tax business there.

When Woodthorpe Road changed hands a couple of years ago it was upgraded at some considerable cost to meet the Post Office's latest requirements.

Perhaps we should be asking why was this done, only to close it a couple of years later. Why did they not close it then?

There have been petitions going round but, due to people being at work, many have not signed them.

If you want to keep your post office, this is your last chance to do something about it then send your comments to the e-mail address above and get in touch with MP David Wiltshire, who is taking an active interest in these closures.

MIKE CLARK, Ferndale Road, Ashford