The Post Office decision announced yesterday to close 29 Birmingham branches has led to predictable outrage from customers and campaigners. But most of the postmasters who opted to close for good were facing a life on the breadline, according to a union spokesman. Jitesh Chavda, Birmingham branch secretary for the National Federation of Postmasters, said some had not been taking any profit at all since a non-paper based credit transfer was introduced. Sub post office masters were offered compensation of 28 months pay if they opted to leave and all of the 29 proposed Birmingham closures announced yesterday are voluntary. Mr Chavda, who runs the Queslett Road branch in Great Barr, said some post office masters faced bankruptcy if they did not close. "If there was enough business I don't think anyone would make the decision to close, but profits have dropped by up to 60 per cent in many branches," he said. "There will be a lot of outcry, people saying 'we want to keep them open', but that could have a detrimental effect on sub postmasters. People who have chosen to go can at least take something with them. "People have migrated to banks to receive their benefits and post offices cannot survive on the income. Several post offices in Birmingham have already had to declare themselves bankrupt. "We are hoping it will not escalate to a mass outcry from the public and MPs to say we want them open when they don't really see the real picture. "Those who are no longer generating enough income to survive, we need to let them go peacefully and build up the branches that people are still using. "Those which are going are only making around £30,000 a year which has to pay staff wages and all the overheads. I've seen a lot of people getting a tax refund because they generated no net profit at all." A spokesman for the Post Office said well over 95 per cent of customers would still live within a mile of a post office. But MPs and residents condemned the closures, saying they would hit people for whom a mile more made a significant difference. Birmingham Councillor Les Lawrence (Con Northfield) said: "There is no justification within the ward I represent because the post offices serve elderly people and those with young families. "I don't understand why the Post Office want to deliberately take away services from the most vulnerable people in our community." Coun John Hemming (Lib Dem, Acocks Green) said he was raising a city-wide petition to protest against the cuts. He said: "This issue affects elderly people and people on lower incomes more than others and many of these people don't find it easy to walk. "Unfortunately this sort of decision is usually made by well-paid executives and civil servants who can walk perfectly well and do not put themselves in the position of those their decisions will affect." A spokeswoman for Help the Aged said: "This will have a huge impact on the lives of elderly people. A post office is not just a place where you go to get your stamps or pension, it is also a lifeline to a lot of elderly people. The postmistress often keeps an eye on them. "If Mrs Smith doesn't go and get her pension like normal it might signal that something is wrong and in a close community she can make sure she is all right." Campaigners hoping to save the Shenley Lane branch collected 2,000 signatures when it was earmarked for closure last year and thought they had won a reprieve when plans were put on hold. With Bournville Village Trust spending £8 million on regenerating the area, and building bungalows for the elderly, they claimed there was more than enough demand to keep the post office open. Jan Drinkwater said: "Everyone is absolutely gutted because after the fight last year we thought we had we had put such a good case together for it not be closed. "As for a consultation, the public has already put its views forward, for them to be ignored. "Major things are going on and what they are going to do is tear the heart out of that community. There is no human side to this at all." Paul Maisey, Post Office Ltd head of area in Birmingham said all of the branches were poorly-used and had suffered from under-investment. | 
