Royal Mail last night moved to reassure customers that a decision to close its delivery offices at Wells and Holt would not necessarily mean a long trip to collect undelivered parcels.

A drop in the amount of post being handled by the company and 'tough trading conditions' mean work done at the two sites will be moved to Fakenham early next year.

The news followed an earlier announcement by Royal Mail that it was considering closing the delivery office at Aylsham and moving it to North Walsham.

Royal Mail said the closure of the Wells and Holt offices would not necessarily mean householders facing a trip to Fakenham to collect undelivered parcels and letters.

A spokeswoman said decisions were still being made, but other options – such as having a letter delivered at another time – would be available.

She added: 'Customer interests will be considered as our top priority, but it is too early to tell what office provisions we will have for customers in Holt and Wells.'

There will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the closures, although staff have been offered voluntary redundancy. Some customers may receive their mail later in the day as routes are altered but should not notice any significant differences, the company says.

There are 18m fewer letters posted each day nationwide compared with five years ago, and Royal Mail said the closures would help to secure employment and lead to a more cost- effective operation.

Yesterday, both Wells and Holt town councils questioned whether making postmen and women travel to Fakenham to collect and return mail each day made economic sense.

Both have written to Royal Mail objecting to the decision: they fear the closures will mean postmen and women will have less local knowledge and that the changes will prove inconvenient to customers.

victoria.leggett@archant.co.uk