A taxi company director has spoken of his concern that his market town may be "sleepwalking" into losing its Post Office unless a new premises can be found.

The Post Office in Sudbury has until June to find a new home due to the closure of the WH Smith store in Market Hill, which currently hosts the town’s counter.

However, Patrick Crew, director of Sudbury Cars, said he regularly used the Market Hill branch to use the Business Click and Go service so he can ship globally for an online business he created during the pandemic.

In addition, he also paid in cash at the outlet and he believed many other online firms were using the Post Office in a similar way, adding the income from his online business was essential to cover living expenses, especially with rising energy and food prices.

“It is essential for those paying bills, receiving benefits including pensions, paying car tax, obtaining and renewing both passports and driving licences, foreign currency, money orders, again the latter two being far more accessible than banks.

“The post office is an essential community asset whose loss would do irreparable damage not just to local businesses in terms of increasing costs due to going further afield for the services needed but to the community as a whole,” Mr Crew said.

In January, the EADT reported that WH Smith was closing the store because it was "unable to trade viably".

At the time, Andy Howes, chair of Sudbury and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “We are extremely disappointed that the Post Office is going to shut or move to another location.

“It clearly needs to be in the centre of town so that people can get access to it.

“We consider that the presence of the Post Office is vital to the town centre. It is disappointing that we are losing the Post Office in the first place, but now they have got to find another store that is going to take it on board.”

Mr Crew has started a petition calling for the Post Office to be saved, which can be accessed here https://www.change.org/p/save-sudbury-s-post-office