A NORTH Dorset councillor is threatening to take a complaint about Post Office Counters to the industry watchdog if a service is not reinstated.

District councillor David Fox said that post office officials are dragging their feet in reinstating a basic four hours a week service to Hazelbury Bryan.

The service ran for just two weeks before Christmas, provided by Ansty Post Office in the new village shop on Alec's Field run by Trevor and Sharon Stansfield.

But as the Daily Echo has reported, Ansty staff promoted their own shop while in the Hazelbury premises and after an argument with the shop owners, they withdrew the post office service.

Councillor Fox said: "We were initially told that no local sub-postmaster could be found to run this service, but this has proven to be untrue.

"There is one a few miles away who has an under-used mobile kit that can be plugged in at Hazelbury to do the job.

"Now there seems to be a delay in negotiating the terms.

"Villagers deserve a better deal in getting this crucial service back - but it's difficult to be confident that a reliable solution is being worked out.

"It is now 28 months since the original post office closed in the village, yet at best Post Office Counters offer four hours of cover per week, and even that was initially resisted by them.

"A village of 700 people with another 300 in its catchment area needs a service to meet local needs."

Councillor Fox said the current situation was a vast change from when there had been two post offices in the parish.

He said the answer was to pay and train the Stansfields to run the service.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "I can confirm Post Office Ltd have been seeking an alternative agent to provide access to Post Office services in Hazelbury Bryan but have so far been unsuccessful."