Community leaders have slammed Coronation Street chiefs over the soap's failure to show the reality of post office closures.
Angry campaigners say ITV scriptwriters are living in "cloud cuckoo land" since The Street still boasts a post office while in real life THOUSANDS have closed.
In the soap "The Kabin" has sailed on with its post office depite the fact that such tiny side-street shops have been stripped of their Royal Mail franchise.
Almost 2500 sub post offices have been shut-down and campaigners say that in reality Rita Sullivan's shop would have faced clousure long ago.
Now furious campaigners are calling on Corrie producers to highlight the crisis that is blighting the nation's postmasters by writing the story into the show.
In the soap The Kabin first opened its doors as a newsagent in 1973 and became a sub post office in the year 2000.
Jim Latham is the spokesman for the group Communities Against Post Office Closures.
Mr Latham said: "The producers of Coronation Street are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think The Kabin would not have lost its post office by now.
"It's a great pity the script writers have not picked-up the closure of post offices.
"A strong story-line in The Street might have helped up put pressure on the Government for a re-think.
"It just shows that most people don't know what they've got till its gone.
"We are still fighting to keep the few remaining post offices put it is an uphill battle.
"Granada are certainly going to have to think hard about what they are going to do with the 'Post Office' signs and counter in The Kabin.
"It's a real anachronism to see The Kabin as a post office. In fact it's starting to look like a sick joke."
Salford Council opposition Conservative Councillor Iain Lindley has been fighting to save the city's real-life post offices.
Mr Lindley said: "The scriptwriters have shown that they do not have their finger on the pulse on this issue.
"They should be writing about the post office closures because it is a very real problem that is affecting the real-life residents in Salford.
"I have been collecting signatures for a petition but the Government are still insisting on closing them.
"If we are going to get Westminster to do a U-turn on this then we need some kind of national campaign and Coronation Street could be a big help.
"If Rita was shown losing her post office - as she would in real life - a lot more people might sit-up and take notice.
"We can only hope they will have a swift reality check."
A spokeswoman for Coronation Street said the shows producers believe that despite the programme of closures many back street Post Offices remain open and The Kabin's Royal mail franchise is not unrealistic.
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Maureen Davison, coronation street writers around 1 year, 11 months ago