PENSIONERS in a rural village will be forced to travel across Teesdale to collect their pensions after it was announced their local post office has closed.

Many residents in Staindrop only found out about the closure of the post office when they arrived on Friday morning to find it shut.

The Post Office said it had to close the outlet because of the retirement of the postmaster.

But it also accepted that it had failed to give customers sufficient warning - which has led to a string of complaints from villagers.

Pensioners now face bus journeys to Barnard Castle or other villages to collect their pensions from nominated post offices.

The Post Office has apologised to customers and said they can visit post offices at Cockfield, Gainford, Ingleton or Barnard Castle to collect their pensions.

But pensioners, who faced the prospect of having to pay for extra bus journeys across the dale, have been offered cut-price return journeys to Gainford Post Office by a Staindrop travel company.

Joanne Watson, of Paul Watson Travel, confirmed that pensioners wishing to collect their pensions can pay £1 for a return journey to Gainford, and posters advertising the service will go up around Staindrop over the next few days.

The service will run at 10am on Mondays, 10am and 10.30am on Tuesdays and 10am on Thursdays.

A spokesman for the Benefits Agency said finding alternative locations for pensioners to collect their pensions was the responsibility of the Post Office.

A spokeswoman for the Post Office said: "We are very sorry for the inconvenience this will cause residents in Staindrop.

"However, we want to assure residents that this is only a temporary closure and as soon as we can find a replacement Staindrop Post Office will reopen."