A sub-postmistress has stepped into the breach to save Burgess Hill's main post office from closure.

Sangeeta Patel, 37, has taken over the running of the office. She and her team of five staff, have been given a contract to keep the service open for six months.

Consignia, which owns the Post Office group, had appointed a new sub-postmaster earlier this year.

However, their choice pulled out at the last moment, prompting a frantic search for someone else to keep the branch open.

Miss Patel, from Wandsworth, stepped in at the eleventh hour and is travelling from London to Burgess Hill to run the branch in Church Walk.

The post office will open half an hour later under the new management, at 9am, and close at the usual time of 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday.

Its long-term future is uncertain but Miss Patel said she hoped she would be kept on after the six- month contract ended.

She said: "We hope to keep the service as long as we can. It is an important amenity for the community. I don't think this post office will close, I think the contract will be renewed."

Miss Patel works for Post Ltd, which takes over post offices temporarily while they have no one to run them and has 14 years' experience of running branches in London.

She asked customers to be patient while the Burgess Hill branch got back up to speed.

She said because the previous management feared the branch would have to close, stocks had been allowed to run low.

Miss Patel said: "We are running about 90 per cent of services but some stock and stationary still needs to be delivered.

"We would ask customers to bear with us over this. We should have all our deliveries within the next two weeks.

"We are trying to get up to speed as soon as possible and hope people understand. Most just seem happy the post office is still here."

The post office was previously run as a franchise within the Co-operative Superstore.

When the superstore decided to shut last Christmas, the future of the branch was thrown into jeopardy.

The Co-op agreed to run the counter until its franchise ran out on October 18 and the site was taken over by the B-wise department store in June.

But bosses said they would not be running the post office. The branch had been due to shut on October 24, causing anger in the town.

More than 5,000 people signed a petition campaigning to keep it open.

If the branch had closed, people would have been forced to use one of the three sub-post offices around the town.

Getting to the nearest main post office would have meant a five-mile journey to Haywards Heath.