|
|
 |
| |
Protesters gather to fight the closure of South End Road post office |
A crucial community service in this post-modern society
Royal Mail’s proposed closure
of post offices will be devastating
for communities, says writer Deborah Moggach
THREE times this week I’ve tried to post a parcel at my local post office in South End Road.
Each time the queue was so long that I gave up and went home.
Yet, believe it or not, this thriving establishment is for the chop. What sort of insanity is this? How can I show the executioners at Royal Mail that our shop is desperately needed, that it’s a thriving business?
The terrible irony is that four years ago we, the local residents and traders, fought a passionate campaign to keep this post office open – and we won. During that mass cull many small post offices went under.
The so-called “consultations” were a complete sham, and not worth the paper they were written on. Each closure was a tragedy for the local community, but ours escaped. We breathed a sigh of relief. Now we see, to our horror, that this was just a reprieve.
The latest announcement tells us that in Camden alone four post offices are to be shut down. Apparently they are all within walking distance of a larger post office. “Walking distance” apparently means half a mile.
I’d like to give these guys a loaded baby buggy, or stick them in a wheelchair, and tell them to “walk half a mile”. Maybe I’ll add some rain and ice for good measure. And tell them that 40 per cent of Camden’s residents are over 60.
I’d like to put them behind the counter of a local shop, load them with the day’s takings, in cash, plus several kilos of parcels to be sent by mail order, and get them to “walk half a mile” to the nearest post office, to deposit their cash, send their parcels, get bags of change. Not forgetting that somebody has to be paid to mind the shop in their absence. Not forgetting that walking around with great wads of cash is not the safest thing to do. And not forgetting that once they arrive at the larger post office they’ll no doubt have to stand in a vast queue of customers that snakes out into the street. An operation, in other words, that would take a good two hours out of their working day. Every day. See how they would like that.
Then there’s the hill. Our special difficulty in South End Green is the geography of the place. The guys in suits have no idea of the local terrain, of course, they just number-crunch at their desks.
It’s an extremely steep hill up to our nearest main post office in Hampstead. Anybody elderly or infirm simply cannot make the journey. But, needless to say, they haven’t taken this into consideration. In their leaflet they say “there is a frequent bus service” (not true) and a bus stop 20 yards away (not true).
Even if you manage to catch a 46 bus it’s solid traffic all the way to Hampstead and the journey can take half an hour.
Nor have they understood the most important point of all – what the closure of a post office does to a community.
The knock-on effect is absolutely devastating. A healthy community means thriving local shops. These are already threatened for all sorts of reasons – supermarkets sucking away customers, draconian parking restrictions, rent hikes and so on.
Once a post office closes all its customers go elsewhere. This means, in South End Green, that they don’t stop for a cake at Polly’s Tea Rooms, they don’t stock up on envelopes at Belsize Stationery, they don’t buy their cat food at Londis and they don’t buy their flowers at John’s flower stall.
Our local traders are already hanging on by their fingernails. Losing their “footfall” – the people en route to the post office – will be the final blow.
Underneath all this lies a ploy to keep the postmasters and postmistresses sweet – a pay-off of £70,000 when they close. How tempting this must be. This makes it more difficult, of course, for protesters to get their support.
But we must protest. Post office closures don’t just affect the old, the vulnerable, the poor and those without the internet to access their money. They affect us all.
The post office is one of those institutions that make up a civilised society. It should be owned by the state, where profit should not be the over-riding objective. Failing this, the rules should be relaxed so that local shops can take over the franchise themselves – in South End Green several traders have expressed an interest in doing this.
If the government can bail out Northern Rock, to the tune of £3,000 for every tax-payer in Britain, it can support this essential service. Sign the petitions, write to your MP and local councillor. Show the idiots at Royal Mail that they have one hell of a fight on their hands.
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
