SELBY MP John Grogan questioned the "integrity" of Post Office bosses amid confusion over the status of the closure-threatened Brayton Road branch.

The outlet, which is in the town's Doncaster Road, is being axed under the Government's "urban reinvention" programme, which will shut 3,000 branches nationwide.

But, according to a list faxed to Mr Grogan by Post Office Ltd yesterday morning, Brayton Road is classified as a "rural" outlet.

The status of the branch was changed to "urban" ahead of a debate in Parliament, led by Mr Grogan, yesterday afternoon.

Mr Grogan told the debate: "When did it change? Did they decide to close the post office then reclassify it from rural to urban and what was the sequence of events?

"It does seem a little bit unhappy and does not give you much confidence in the integrity of the process, if on the day of the debate the Post Office are faxing me telling me the post office they are closing under the urban reinvention programme is in fact rural according to their latest list."

The branch is set to close at the end of this month, despite widespread opposition from residents.

The shop linked to the outlet is to remain open and was today unveiling a "paypoint" scheme - which will allow customers to pay bills but not collect their pension.

A cashpoint is also being installed, so people who choose to have benefits paid direct into a bank account rather than a Post Office account can collect their cash.

Mr Grogan said having a post office linked to a shop was the model suggested by the Prime Minister's own Policy Innovation Unit and closure flew in the face of Downing Street advice.

He also questioned Post Office Ltd's "consultation process" on the closure. He said there had not been a successful appeal in the north of England.

The Labour MP claimed there was a greater chance of appealing against a "death sentence for murder in Texas a week before the Governor stands for re-election".

He concluded: "I don't think it has been wholly good, the consultation process. Even today there is confusion about whether it is a rural or urban post office.

"It seems to be going completely against the performance innovation unit in terms of linking post offices and convenience stores and no post master or post mistress here will be getting redundancy terms."

Post Office Minister Stephen Timms claimed the confusion was down to a "clerical error" in the Post Office's list of rural outlets.

He said a member of staff had confused Brayton Road with the Brayton branch, which is classed as rural. This had now been corrected, he added.

Updated: 14:43 Thursday, June 12, 2003