A RETIRED postman has been nominated to deliver pensioners a better deal in east Cleveland.

Mike Findley, newly-elected councillor for Longbeck ward at Marske, has been chosen as Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's Older People's Champion.

He said: "I want to give older people a voice, make sure they have access to information about local services, and to root out any age discrimination in access to treatment and services within the council."

He will gather information from older people's groups and plans to visit every one of the borough's 60 private care homes and the five council-run establishments.

Councillor Findley wants to work with other council cabinet portfolio members and to liaise with the Older People's Champion's in the three other Teesside boroughs.

Coun Findley, who was a postman for 34 years, said: "I'm going to have a busy job and it's all about saying to older people: "Are you happy?" Then there will be the wider issues about what can be done."

He is secretary of the Cleveland Pensioners Convention Forum, an organisation which he formed two years ago and which has 2,000 members.