NEIGHBOURS fear their local post office could be forced to close by council plans to stop customers from parking outside it.

They are angry at moves to paint double yellow lines outside the Eccleston Lane Ends sub-post office in St Helens Road, which, they claim, will make life difficult for elderly and disabled customers. This in turn, they believe, could lead to the closure of the sub-post office which has served the area for 90 years.

Linda Willis, who has run the sub-post office for more than four years, says the double yellow lines would make a bad parking problem even worse with people parking outside property or even stopping in the middle of the road.

She told the Star: "I first received notification of St Helens Council's intentions last November when we heard they were planning to turn the old primary school into a day nursery. Now, that will be opening any day and the council have told all the residents that once the lines are down, no one will be able to park along here.

"The news is bad enough for people living in the terraced houses here, but my customers will also be affected by it. A lot of people who use the post office are elderly or disabled and it is quite common for them to be driven here, but there is nowhere else for them to park other than outside. People will either stop coming altogether or they will start obstructing people's houses and blocking the road."

Linda has handed in a 1,000-signature petition opposing the no-parking scheme, and has also enlisted local councillor, Teresa Sims and members of Eccleston Parish Council to the cause.

She added: "I am really worried about the whole thing. We have been given until June 7 to make our objections known to the council and I am just hoping they will see what a problem the yellow lines would cause here."

A spokeswoman for St Helens Council told the Star: "It is common practice where a school or nursery, as in this case, is involved, that waiting restrictions are imposed on roads nearby, and Merseyside Police officers have also advised taking this measure. However, residents living near the site have been given 28 days to register their objections which will all be taken into consideration by the planning committee before they make their decision."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.