A VILLAGE post office has closed down because the sub-postmaster was earning the minimum wage.

Andy Brown, aged 57, had been working from 6am to 5pm every day, but business had declined steadily in the past five years, said his wife, Corinne.

She said he closed Broadwas Post Office on Saturday, April 26, after putting his heart and soul into the business for 17 years.

"Only two years ago my husband spent a lot of money on refurbishing the post office to accommodate the new Horizon computer system that everyone had to have. The Post Office offered no help," she said.

"Everyone can now sell stamps and the only reason people used the post office was for pensions, but now they are being paid into the bank."

Mrs Brown said the Post Office should use rural development funds to support existing services, rather than setting up new facilities in pubs and village halls.

"They pay you a minimum wage and they expect you to be a bank and public service, but when you have to close because of financial difficulties they let it happen," she said

"It's a cost-cutting exercise, because it's cheaper to have a post office in a village hall one or two days a week."

Frank Hill, secretary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Malvern District, said it would be good to see the Post Office being more generous in its funding of village post offices.

"If they are anxious to continue to provide a service but feel it is not worthwhile, that's a sad comment on the support they're getting," he said.

Post Office spokes-man Richard Hall said it was a Government decision to pay pensions directly into bank accounts, but personal banking options were available to post office customers.

The rural start-up scheme mentioned by Mrs Brown was for capital investment in new rural post offices and could not be used to support operating costs.

Sub-postmasters were paid according to the level of business transacted, which had declined in Broadwas to a need for only eight to 12 hours a week of post office services.

"It boosts your hourly rate if you do the same transactions in fewer hours. If someone wants to serve the community and has suitable premises there is an opportunity available to them in Broadwas," he said.