Customers have just six weeks to save their threatened post offices.

Twenty-three in Oxfordshire have been earmarked for closure as the Post Office wrestles with huge losses of £4m a week.

No business could sustain such deficits, but the case for closing so many branches should not be argued solely on financial terms.

The Government and the Post Office should take into account other factors such as the effect on customers.

How much hardship will the closures cause? How far away is the next post office? And is there is a suitable bus service?

Not every customer has a car, so closure could cause immense hardship.

The Government has contributed to the downfall of many post offices by encouraging people to have benefits paid directly into bank accounts, and by switching business such as TV licences to other outlets.

In that sense, it bears some responsibility for the plight in which the Post Office now finds itself.

For many villages, the death of the post office will also mean the death of the shop, bringing a double blow to them.

We don't hold out much hope that the Government and the Post Office will listen at the end of the six-week consultation programme.

But it is a worth a fight. We hope communities will rally their troops and put forward a strong case for post offices to stay open.

Even if we can save half the 23 under threat in Oxfordshire, it will have been worth it.

If we don't make the effort now, we can hardly complain when the inevitable happens.

A sweetener is being offered to provide a mobile post office, visiting communities perhaps for a few hours once a week.

That would be better than nothing, but for now, it shouldn't deflect us from the main agenda - to save the real post offices.

Good luck to all the campaigners.