CUSTOMERS have just six weeks to try to save a post office threatened with the axe.

The proposed closure of the branch in Calmore Road, Totton, by January will see residents having to travel up to two and a half miles to the nearest alternative at Salisbury Road.

Residents now have six weeks to put their views forward to the Post Office and the watchdog group Postwatch.

The closure is part of Post Office cutbacks after £200m losses last year. Nationwide 3,000 branches could be axed.

Six Hampshire post offices - two from Southampton - have been shut in the past year.

Raymond Holt, of Milkwood Court, West Totton, is worried because the alternative is to go to the branches at Salisbury Road, Rumbridge Street or Water Lane.

He said: "I am not happy at all and neither will a lot of people round here be. What worries me is that the pensioners and mums with kids who have no transport won't have a post office any more.

"They can't be expected to travel the extra miles without a car."

Postmistress Rita Clifton said that after losing £200,000 turnover a year because of a lack of business, she and her husband are desperate to leave.

She said: "I feel sorry for the local people who use the post office but they are very few and it's not viable for us to run it any more. We have lost so much due to poor trade."

A Post Office spokesman said: "There is not enough business for the number of post offices in each area. We are hoping to close down offices in a controlled way. We only close those that the postmasters want closed.

"We will carry out a six-week consultation period so that local community representatives and Postwatch can put forward their views."

Gary Hepburn, regional secretary for Postwatch for the South and West, said he wanted to be informed of residents' concerns. "We are urging those affected to contact us on 0845 601 3265."