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Noel Wurr |
‘Post Office axe will slice through precious lifeline’
SHUTTING four post offices in Camden will hit the elderly and disabled most, according to campaigners fighting the proposals – and their claims have been backed by the government’s own watchdog.
The Post Office plans to close branches in Hampstead, Belsize Park, Somers Town and Highgate despite massive opposition.
A report by government quango Postwatch has found that the people most likely to be affected by closures are those over 65 and the disabled.
Wheelchair-user Noel Wurr, a retired architect who lives in Belsize Park, says the threatened England’s Lane post office, which includes a chemist, is her “lifeline”.
“I am blind, severely disabled and on regular medication which I have organised so my prescriptions can be faxed from my GP direct to the chemist,” she said.
“My mobility is extremely limited and now I hear our precious sub-post office is likely to close.”
She added that, since the closure of a Barclays Bank branch in the street, the post office had become even more essential. “It is my only means of obtaining my pension and cash,” she said.
“Due to the fact I am blind, I cannot use the hole in the wall and the nearest branches of Barclays are way out of my reach. I am sure this is the case for many others.”
The Post Office says that, as it has to cut 2,500 branches, a stay of execution for England’s Lane post office will mean a branch elsewhere shutting.
For Mrs Wurr, her next nearest post office would be the busy branch in Hampstead High Street, almost exactly a mile from her door. “My husband would not be able to push me in my wheelchair up the hill to get to the branch,” she said.
“We would be forced to drive – and people know how bad traffic and parking already is in Hampstead.
“We had hoped the combination of the sub-post office and the chemist would be financially viable.”
Protesters are meeting outside the Crowndale Road post office in Camden Town at midday tomorrow (Friday) and outside the South End Road branch in Hampstead at 12.30pm. |
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