Tony Blair has been handed a petition signed by four million people pleading for the Government to avert a crisis in the post office network.
Under a sea of red umbrellas with the words "save our post offices" picked out in gold, subpostmasters and customers descended on Whitehall for a rally calling for No 10 to prevent closures and post offices being stripped of key services.
Campaigners say the National Federation of SubPostmasters' (NFSP) call for urgent action to safeguard post offices is the largest petition ever presented to a British Prime Minister.
Supporters, including the original Forces' Sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn claim that plans to the network threaten to rip the heart out of local communities as post offices lose much-needed income.
They want a U-turn on the decision to withdraw the Post Office Card Account (POCA), used by millions to access pensions and benefits.
Declaring that "it's time the Government started listening to the people who use and depend on their post office," Age Concern's director general Gordon Lishman said: "Thousands of older people across the country are worried about their local post office being forced to close down."
Campaigners call for a workable plan for the future of rural post offices, including an urgent renewal of the subsidy of rural post offices.
Mr Lishman said: "Post offices play a vital role in local communities and provide much more than just a postal service.
"Our research shows that 99% of older people in rural areas consider their local post office a lifeline with many being extremely concerned about the Post Office Card Account being withdrawn."
Rob Jones, an NFSP Nottinghamshire branch secretary who runs a post office in Temple Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, said: "We would like the Government to acknowledge that there is a social aspect that the post office has. It is not necessarily something that can be valued in pounds and pence. We need to know exactly what their commitment is."
