A SENIOR citizens group has launched a campaign to keep a threatened post office open.

The Neville Parade branch, in Newton Aycliffe, is one of 11 in County Durham and Darlington that could be closed from November.

The Post Office says the closure is necessary because of falling customer numbers and increased running costs.

The Neville Parade branch is opposite Neville Community Centre, the base for the Friends of Senior Citizens charity, which is determined to fight the proposal.

Group founder Peter Beaty has written to Tony Blair to ask for his support and there are plans to stage a protest outside the branch next Friday, when customers will be asked to sign a petition.

The Post Office says customers will be able to use either of the town's two other branches, in the town centre and at Simpasture Gate, but Mr Beaty says that would cause problems for many people.

He said: "It would mean that frail, elderly people, some of them blind and disabled, would have to make their way to the town centre post office and back.

"I'd like to invite the people who are proposing this to come out on a wet, windy, cold day and imagine what it would be like for their grandmother to do that journey."

Mr Beaty said despite plans to add an extra member of staff at the town centre branch, there would still be queues.

He said: "When they get to the town centre they're obviously going to be shattered and then they'll have to stand in a long queue because there's always one there."

The Newgate Street branch, in Bishop Auckland, is another of the post offices under threat of closure.

A six-week consultation period has been launched.

Customers can make their views known to consumer watchdog Postwatch by contacting 0845 6013265, or writing to Post Office closures, Freepost, Postwatch.

Alternatively, the Post Office can be contacted directly by writing to David Mellows-Facer at PO Box 2060, Watford, WD18 8ZW.