A campaign against post office closures is set to gather force when a 3,000-name petition is presented to Parliament.

Campaigner Andy Rowley took to the streets of Shipley, Saltaire, Windhill and Wrose to campaign against any future closures by Post Office Limited.

A national cull could include up to 21 branches in the Bradford district. There are currently 94 branches, of which 54 are classed as being in the most deprived neighbourhoods, with 11 in rural locations.

About 2,500 of the UK's 14,000 post offices - 18 per cent - will close.

Bradford Council is collating information to pass on to the Post Office before consultation starts later on this month in Keighley and on April 7 for Bradford.

It is at these points the branches earmarked for closure will be revealed.

After the six-week consultation, it will be up to the Post Office to choose which branches are culled.

Mr Rowley, 41, handed the petition to Shipley MP Philip Davies, who will present it to Parliament.

Mr Davies said: "I will make my colleagues in the Houses of Parliament aware of the strength of feeling against the proposals to close so many post offices.

"The last time Andy collected this number of signatures was when Shipley Police Station closed down. We won that battle. This one seems harder because the Government seems determined to press ahead with closures but that will not deter us in any way."

Mr Rowley of Windhill, Shipley, a prison officer, started the campaign 18 months ago when he discovered his mother-in-law, who works at Baildon Post Office, was facing redundancy. He said he hoped public feeling against the proposed closures would spread to other parts of the district.

He said: "Shipley has been leading the way in this fight. I have been collecting signatures for the past 18 months and we are planning to roll this out throughout the whole district.

"The people I have spoken to are furious and surprised the Government has embarked on such a terrible path.

"They are national assets and you can't put a financial value on these assets, which have been going hundreds of years. The Government is planning to waste a lot of money in other areas, ID cards for example.

"These post offices could do with an injection of investment to bring them up to speed and make them viable for the future."