Post offices ready for closure

The Post Office has now revealed the names of the first 180 branches chosen for closure under its proposal to close 2,500 over the next 2 years. The 180 post offices are in the East Midlands, East Yorkshire and Kent.

A spokesperson for Postwatch, the consumer watchdog, said the latest development was the beginning of immense change in the Post Office organisation. The closures will undoubtedly be bad news for customers but the current Post Office network is unsustainable. It is the Government’s decision to close 2,500 post offices.

Postwatch concluded that it is crucial that the closures provide a positive outcome for customers and that inconvenience is minimised.

Alan Cook, the Post Office’s managing director, said that closing any branch is very difficult and causes immense concern to customers. The Post Office is proposing to meet Government requirements which will provide views on how accessible services will be in the future.

A spokesman for the Department for Business and Enterprise said Post Offices continue to play an important social and economic role in the communities they serve, however, 4 million fewer people are using the post office each week than 2 years ago.

The spokesperson concluded that there will be a continued annual subsidy of up to £150 million until at least 2011 to support the ’social’ network.

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