WEST Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox last week said he was 'stunned and saddened' at the Post Office Ltd's decision not to heed the powerful arguments made by Postwatch, by local councils and thousands of local people in favour of keeping open the post offices at Shebbear and Bridestowe.

Last month, after a vigorous campaign, the MP had written to the Chief Executive of the Royal Mail urging him to intervene and to save the two branches.

 Mr Cox said: 'I am stunned by this decision.

'Those two offices had particularly powerful cases, even on the Post Office's own criteria, as Postwatch acknowledged in pressing for a review.

'It is patently clear the fate of the many elderly and vulnerable people who depend on these crucial services in isolated rural communities, or any of the other points the consultation purported to consider, simply did not count in the reckonings of the Post Office Ltd or of the Government'