Customers at the post office in the village of Tarn Hollow were asked to remain behind the counter's red line on Monday while the woman at the front of the queue recorded her response to being kept waiting.

The delay lasted until every person present had filmed a reaction, addressed the camera by name, and confirmed the take was usable. A second take was granted to anyone who had blinked, laughed, or been served before stating the length of the wait aloud.

The clerk, Mr Denys Parrock, was issued a written warning for processing a passport renewal while the applicant was still adjusting her hat for the camera. The branch office described this as serving out of turn.

"It isn't for me to say when a customer is finished," said Mrs Odile Ferriby, the sub-postmistress. "The queue moves at the pace of its slowest reaction. That is the standard now, and I did not invent it. I believe it came from a man who reviews airports."

The complaint

One customer, who declined to be named, said she had come in for a single stamp and had left forty minutes later with eleven seconds of footage and no stamp.

"I did my piece to camera in the doorway, as is customary," she said. "But then the woman behind me filmed a reaction to my reaction, and I felt I had to react to that as well, for balance. Then a third party arrived and filmed all of us. Nobody got any stamps."

The third party, Mr Ansel Kettle, posts reactions to queues and has filmed his own arrivals at Tarn Hollow on four previous occasions. He described Monday's gathering as the strongest material the village had produced since the bus shelter was repainted.

"It's an honour to be here while it's still happening," he said, filming this remark.

What happens next

Mrs Ferriby has installed a tripod at the counter so that customers being served can capture their side of the transaction, and a second tripod facing the first, so that the clerk can respond in turn.

A notice beside the stamp drawer asks patrons to allow additional time for anyone whose wait has been worse than expected, as their reaction will run longer.

Mr Parrock said he had learned from the warning. "I now ask each customer whether they are ready to be helped, and they tell me when their clip is finished, and I wait," he said. "It is slower. But it is a slower I have agreed to appear in."

The pensioner who was served early has asked that her face not be shown, citing the number of people who have now filmed her.