NEW government guidelines on disabled access is forcing Yarm Post Office to move from its High Street location to a more suitable site.

John Webster, who has run the post office since 1982, said he has little option but to move to Fairfax Court, just off the High Street.

New guidelines under the Disability and Discrimination Act mean that Mr Webster would have to lower the post office entrance down to pavement level to aid wheelchair access.

He said: "A government directive meant that the steps up to the post office were no longer acceptable.

"The cost of taking them down to pavement level would have been astronomical, and also meant that the present premises would have been out of use while the work was carried out."

The new post office will be at 5 Fairfax Court.