MORE than 1,000 pledges of support have already been received in the campaign to save a cherished post office under threat of closure.

Defiant residents are petitioning the Royal Mail to enhance, not destroy, the post office in South Woodford High Road, which is one of 169 in London threatened with the axe.

Zahid Mahmood, postmaster of the branch in High Road, South Woodford, has responded to proposals to close the premises by claiming his already thriving business can only get busier.

He said: "We are calling on Royal Mail to upgrade us to perform all the other services such as road tax, passports, driving licenses and full currency exchange that we are not able to do now.

"We get lots of people wanting to get their road tax every day and someone who came by yesterday had to go down to George Lane where the queue was 26 people long."

Zahid, 42, worked for Hansard Finances in Docklands after gaining a degree in computers, maths and statistics. He told the Guardian he quit the world of finance because he wanted to do something community-based.

He explained: "I used to drop my daughter off at nursery around the corner and when I saw the shop, I thought it looked like a nice change.

"Here it's like a family. Ladies bring in cakes and you get to know people really well. When one of my customers, Hilda Atwood, was in Whipps Cross about three months ago I would go and visit her there.

"We get to know people and they come in to say hi and have a laugh. You wouldn't believe the sort of questions I get asked that have nothing to do with the post office but we still try and help the best we can.

"When old ladies come in here they know that they will get a chair and can sit down if they are tired. You cannot expect them to cross the High Road and George Lane twice then stand in a queue for half and hour."

And Zahid blasted Royal Mail for its lack of vision in not recognising a key asset when it had one.

He added: "They admit we are busy but still want to close us as they say people only need one post office within a mile. But why close us down when we are so busy and will only get more so with all the new flats?

"If mothers cannot drop their kids off at Churchfields, come here and do their photocopying, drycleaning and send stuff for sale on ebay then they will not bother.

"It's all business that the post office will lose as people will not go down to George Lane. The whole world is going 24/7 while the post office has cut deliveries and stopped the Sunday service.

"But we are determined to grow and stay here for a long time to come."