There is little prospect of helping villagers hit by the closure of their sub-post offices, writes David Horne.

That is the gloomy reaction of a district councillor who heads the Oxfordshire body advising the Post Office.

Derrick Millard, of Combe, west Oxfordshire, has seen the nearby village of Freeland become the latest casualty in a growing list of communities hit by the withdrawal of postal counter services.

Cllr Millard, who is chairman of the Oxford and District Post Office Advisory Committee, said: "It is a national problem and there is no easy solution. "The elderly are the ones who suffer most because they lose the place where they can draw their pensions out each week.

"We had it a few years ago in Bladon and pensioners now have to go into Woodstock.

It is the same in Freeland where they will now have to travel to Long Hanborough for the nearest post office.

"I know that in various parts of the country attempts have been made to use village halls, and even pubs, as weekly points for withdrawing pensions.

But the Post Office is not happy about it because of the security aspect with large amounts of cash." Hundreds of pensioners in Freeland have been affected by the sudden withdrawal of the counter service at the village's Freeland Stores in Parklands.

The same is also true in Ducklington where the village store has closed after new tenants failed to get agreement over the running of a post office service.

Cllr Millard added: "It used to be just the outlying, small villages that lost their shops.

Now it is happening with the larger villages." Helen Datson, village shop field worker for Oxfordshire Rural Community Council, is involved in attempts to find an alternative outlet at Freeland, but said nothing definite is yet on the horizon.