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TWENTY-TWO post offices in Greater Glasgow are to be closed under plans announced today.

TWENTY-TWO post offices in Greater Glasgow are to be closed under plans announced today.

A further five will go in the West Dunbartonshire Council area and seven in Argyll and Bute in a cull of 44 post offices hitting Scotland.

One of the worst affected areas is the Glasgow North constituency of MP Ann McKechin, who immediately condemned the proposals.

Half the post offices in her constituency are threatened and she said: "The Post Office must think again - these post offices provide a valuable local facility.

"They are more than just a business - they are an important part of our local communities.

"Why should residents in Glasgow North suffer such a disproportionate cut in services? The Post Office has said it wants to close 20% of post offices overall, yet it wants to close half the offices in this area."

Ms McKechin has launched a petition to save the offices and wants local people to make their views known by taking part in the six-week consultation programme before the final decision is made.

Her campaign is supported by local MSPs Bill Butler, Patricia Ferguson and Pauline McNeill.

Glasgow North West MP John Robertson also urged the Post Office to think again. He said it was "playing a numbers game" instead of thinking about what benefited its customers.

He said: "The worst hit areas are those where there is a high take-up of benefits, which are usually collected from local post offices."

However, the Labour politicians were accused of cynicism by East Dunbartonshire LibDems' MSP Jo Swinson for failing to work harder to save them.

She said: "It is all very well for Labour MPs to be blaming the public for these closures, but it is the Labour Government that has presided over the decline of the Post Office network.

"It is the height of cynicism for Labour MPs to suddenly realise how important the Post Office is to their community when it is threatened with closure."

The closures are part of a phased plan, supported by Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling, to close up to 2500 post offices across the UK. The Post Office says it is losing £4million a week throughout the UK.

A Post Office spokesman claimed "almost 90% of the total area's population will see no change at all to their nearest branch or will remain within one mile of an alternative branch".

The lists for Ayrshire, Inverclyde, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire are expected to be revealed next June.

Customers hit out at unfair' blow for the elderly

CUSTOMERS in Glasgow today reacted angrily to the planned closures. In the Allison Street branch in Govanhill, local resident Ellen Banner, 38, said: "It's very handy for the area. I use it for stamps and to post parcels. It's really unfair on the elderly." Another local, David Docherty, 36, added: "I come here to cash my benefits. It's unfair because people will have to walk to the post office in Victoria Road." The reaction was similar at the Nithsdale Road branch. Lucy Scaife, 30, from Strathbungo, said: "It's part of the community. I use it to pick up stamps and post parcels. "This will hit the elderly hard."