The Royal Mail today revealed plans to either close or downgrade 81 outlets in Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland.

Those earmarked for closure include the Harton Village branch in Sunderland Road, and Westoe Road branch, both South Shields; the Station Road branch in Station Terrace, East Boldon; and the Victoria Road West branch in Hartleyburn Avenue, Hebburn.

Campaigners will have just six weeks to save their community branches.

The worst-hit area is Northumberland, where a swathe of post offices face the axe.

Post Office minister Pat McFadden said the network has about four million fewer customers every week than a few years ago, and is losing £500,000 a day.

He said: "While I know that no one wants to see post offices closing, it is clear that as a society we are using them a lot less as more and more services become available online.

"As a result, the Post Office has been losing custom and losing money.

"The future cannot be about turning the clock back and wishing away the changes in technology and communications that have taken place in recent years – changes that most of us have taken part in.

"Under the proposal, 93.2 per cent of the population will see no change to the branch they currently use."

Customers fear removal of their local branches will have a devastating impact on their communities, and will particularly hit the elderly.

Across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham, 57 of the current 420 branches will close, and 24 will be replaced with an outreach service, which would usually take the form of a van visiting the office at specified times.

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