Almost 50 people turned out to show their support to keep the post office open at an extraordinary meeting of Thornton Le Fen Parish Council on Thursday, while villagers, councillors and pupils and teachers from Gipsey Bridge Primary School were ready with placards at a protest outside the shop on Monday.

Gipsey Bridge Post Office and General Store, run by sub-postmaster Andrew Sallabanks, is one of three Boston-area post offices currently under consultation by the Post Office.

Parish council chairman Coun Patrick Hugh Franks urged villagers to write to the Post Office to ask for the village branch to remain.

"Security will be reduced, and we also think it is a bit of a red herring to say Sibsey is the alternative," said Mr Franks.

"You need personal transport to get there, it's not as if we pass it."

He added: "They only do 36 hours a week, we have 47.

"We have adequate parking away from the road, next to a bus stop.

"It serves the village and the community."

If Gipsey Bridge was to become an outreach service based in the current shop, it would become an open counter service – meaning the security screens would be removed.

John Sallabanks, Andrew's father who was once sub-postmaster, said: "I am quite concerned about the security side. I am devastated but furious with Post Office policy.

"It's a very hypocritical way of doing things."

Another villager described Andrew Sallabanks as a 'sitting duck' without the current level of security.

Gipsey Bridge Primary School headteacher David Hodgson said it would be a 'great disappointment' if the shop were to close.

He said: "Some of the children have been designing posters.

"We have been talking to them about how the post office is valued. For the school it is a very useful resource.

"It's a great disappointment. It is a small community and the post office is a central point.

"It's quite a treat for some of the children on a Friday to go in and pick some sweets for the weekend."

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