POSTAL bosses have again left customers in the dark over the re-opening of Radcliffe's town centre office.

A date has yet to be confirmed, despite a previous assurance that it would be open before Christmas.

Radcliffe MP Ivan Lewis has called for a public apology from Post Office Counters for the fact that the West Street branch has now been shut for 11 weeks.

An exasperated Mr Lewis, along with Councillor Barry Briggs, chairman of Radcliffe Area Board, has been involved in complex negotiations with Post Office Counters, the charitable trust which owns the building and Manpower, which has a lease on the building, for some time.

"It has been a frustrating and, at times, infuriating process," he said. But Mr Lewis said he had finally been able to get all three parties to reach some sort of agreement.

He said: "From what I've been told it seems 80 per cent certain that the post office will open within the next two days."

But spokesman for Post Office Counters, Mr Graham Moore, was not so certain. He said: "Due to a number of legal problems surrounding the lease of the premises we are not in a position at this stage to say on what day it will re-open. We do apologise to customers for any inconvenience."

An angry Mr Lewis said: "As far as I am concerned there is no acceptable reason why the post office should not be back open."

He added: "I believe Post Office Counters should apologise to the people of Radcliffe for the length of time it has been closed. However, the main thing now is the restoration of a full service not only in the short term but a quality service which can be relied on in the centre of Radcliffe on a longer term basis."

The post office closed 11 weeks ago following the suspension of the sub-postmaster pending an internal investigation.

After weeks of delay a replacement was found but a problem with the lease meant the re-opening was delayed yet again.