Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MSP Jamie Stone revealed this week that he had been asked to look into the issue by worried constituents.

Community councillors warned it would be a severe blow to rural communities if services are withdrawn.

Royal Mail has for some time run four Postbus routes in north and north-west Sutherland.

Passengers can travel with the mail from Drumbeg to Lochinver and on to Lairg. There is also a service from Tongue to Talmine or from Tongue to Lairg. Postbus transport on the North Coast links Tongue with Thurso and also with Bettyhill. The services receive a transport subsidy from the Highland Council.

MSP Jamie Stone said this week that at recent clinics in the Far North he had been approached by constituents worried that some Postbus services, including the Tongue to Thurso one, may be about to be discontinued.

Mr Stone has now written to Highland Council chief executive, Alistair Dodds. He told him: "These services are vital to people living in remote areas such as the Far North.

"Taking the Thurso to Tongue service as an example, the Postbus enables people living in the Tongue area to access shops and other facilities in Thurso.

"It is also important in terms of tourism – a number of tourists use the Postbus on a regular basis."

Mr Stone warned the chief executive that while the gradual build-up of transport services in the North over recent years was something to be proud of, any reduction would be a backward step. The MSP asked for reassurance that no withdrawal of services was planned.

He offered to try to secure extra funding from central sources, if finance was the issue. "Should it be that the council needs additional Scottish Government finance to maintain services at their present levels, then I will be more than willing to raise the issue with Scottish ministers in Holyrood," he said.

Tongue Community Council chairman Alan Mackay said the issue had featured on the agenda at recent community council meetings.

"We haven't been told officially that it is going to be withdraw, only that they are carrying out a review of the services.

"It would certainly be a blow to the North Coast if the Postbus was to disappear, there's no question about that. At the present time you cannot get out of Melness by public transport."

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said that they were currently in discussions with Highland Council about the Postbus route between Thurso and Tongue and also between Bettyhill and Tongue.

She said: "The routes have very low passenger numbers and the financial subsidy from the local authority does not make them financially viable.

"Royal Mail is first and foremost a postal operator, not a transport company, and our first priority is the collection and delivery of mail. The provision of public transport is not the responsibility of Royal Mail, but of the local transport authority, in this case Highland Council.

"Where possible Royal Mail is committed to providing Postbus services alongside its core business of collecting and delivering the mail."

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