A FOREST sub-postmaster is accusing the Forest of Dean District Council of disadvantaging OAPs as well as hammering nails in the coffin of rural post offices.

Stuart Manning, who is Gloucester branch secretary of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, said the council had just withdrawn the sale of subsidised bus tickets without informing the post offices that the move was coming.

"They normally send us the tickets in May and people have been coming in since the middle of the month to ask if they have arrived," he said.

"Now we learn that as the result of a council meeting they have decided not to dispense them through post offices."

The matter was all the more serious because the council was only issuing eight months' free tickets – worth £8 – rather than 12 to swing in with the fiscal year.

"They have been telling people they will not be disadvantaged by this but they will. Certainly from this area and many others in the Forest if they want to go to Coleford to collect them it will cost £3 – they will have spent half their allocation going to get them."

He said the council was also saying that applications could be made by post, but this was impossible because applicants could not send in their benefit or pension books, which is the proof of eligibility required.

With post offices still reeling from the news that state benefits and pensions will in future be paid through banks, many might feel this is the last straw, he said, even though some banks were moving towards using branch POs as outlets.

The bus decision came in addition to removing the ability to pay rent through post offices – due to come in next year – and the 'implication' that council tax could not be paid at the post office.

"You can ... but they make is as difficult as possible an on occasions even tell people they can't," said Mr Manning, who said he felt sure the council had not fully thought out the implications of the recent moves.

"There are many reasons why working with the post offices can be an advantage to the council," he said. "Not least because we know our customers and they don't see them.

"In the end I feel sorry for the pensioners and disadvantaged, who are going to suffer once again."