A VILLAGE sub-postmaster may shut his shop in the New Year if he fails to overturn a tribunal decision not to guarantee him a minimum wage.

Ken Hayward, who runs a post office and general store from his Holden Street home in Belthorn, has been fighting for three years in the landmark test case.

If he was successful, the victory would impact upon the country's 16,000 sub-postmasters but Mr Hayward is sceptical about his chances.

He lost the original case last year and was granted an appeal, which was heard in London a couple of weeks ago. The judgement will be sent to Mr Hayward in early January by post.

Mr Hayward, 50, decided to take the Post Office to the employment tribunal after the introduction of legislation called the Working Time Directive. It guaranteed a minimum wage of £4.20 an hour and holiday pay to 'workers'.

But the Post Office said that because Mr Hayward also ran the general store, he was a freelance agent and not 'a worker' covered by the act. The tribunal found in the company's favour on this basis.

He is currently paid £3.65 an hour and the Post Office tops up the pay to the minimum wage.

However, this process is not guaranteed nor fixed in legislation, so it could be cut at any time, leaving sub-postmasters with the base rate.

A victory for Mr Hayward would change this situation and see £4.20 an hour enforced. Sub-postmasters would also be entitled to four weeks holiday pay from the Post Office.

Mr Hayward, who has represented himself throughout the legal proceedings, said he feared the Post Office would reduce his hours if he lost the case, costing him vital cash.

During the past three years his working hours have been untouched because of the legal action, but 978 other rural post offices in the country have closed, partly due to cutbacks on opening times.

If he wins, his full time hours would be enforced by the legislation as companies are not allowed to make reductions because of the minimum wage. Defeat could mean cuts.

He added: "This has been dragging on and on. Around 1,000 rural post offices have closed in the past three years and the Post Office is struggling to attract people to become a sub-postmaster. They need to offer better terms."