Villagers fight 'unsuitable' post office
DOZENS of villagers crowded into a town centre post office to protest against the planned closure of their local branch.
Residents made the three-mile trip from Abbotskerswell to Newton Abbot to show how "unsuitable" the alternative post office is.
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Abbotskerswell villagers gather outside Newton Abbot Post Office Andy Styles HE080908_AS02_01
Resident Liz Taylor said: "We are the busiest village post office in Devon to be marked for closure. We want more people to write in against the plans."
Abbotskerswell was not on the original 83-branch hit list drawn up by the Post Office, but was added after two other branches were saved.
This has left villagers feeling the closure programme has not been thought through.
The final decision will be made once the consultation period is over.
Comments
by JohnW, Lincs
Wednesday, September 10 2008, 5:36AM
“Lets not miss the bigger picture here.
It is not the loss of the ability to get your pension or car tax etc that is a stake, these services can be provided by other, cheaper means, even if these means are not too popular with many of the older generation. What we are losing as a nation is the ability to post that parcel (Mum¿s present) or send that recorded delivery etc. The Post Office Network is, or should we say was, the front end of the Royal Mail, ie the Postal Service. The payment of pensions and benefits etc through the existing Post Office Branches was a cost effective use of government resources at the time when the payments were introduced, as was issuing car tax, TV licenses etc. This has now been superseded by modern payment and banking methods, however the government is intent on throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Before long we will not only have to travel to the nearest town or main post office to post our mail, we will find that we will have to go there to collect it as well!”