Communication problems as council tries to stop post closures

8:14am Thursday 15th May 2008

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The future of postal services remained uncertain this week as Barnet Council and the Post Office were at loggerheads.

Council bosses say they are being hampered in their efforts to prevent post office closures by providing council services in postal premises.

They claim financial information from the Post Office has not been forthcoming, making it difficult to assess the options available.

Council leader Mike Freer said: "The Post Office has still not provided confirmation on a number of financial and space issues which will affect any future decision on whether it might be feasible to set up council contact centres at post office branches.

"Our hands are tied by the lack of transparency and assistance afforded to the council by the Post Office."

But a spokesman for the Post Office refuted the claims. He said: "We have offered Barnet Council, and specifically Mr Freer, a meeting to discuss funding but they have not responded.

"Our offer to meet remains and we are happy to discuss details including financial information, under confirmation of a non-disclosure agreement.

"This is in common with all other local authorities we have been speaking to."

The clash comes a week after the announcement that eight branches in the borough would shut within weeks.

The closures are among the 162 post offices due to be axed across London, as the Government plans to shut 2,500 branches nationwide to reduce its annual loss of £4 million.

Hundreds of businesses and thousands of residents who rely on the post offices in the borough will have to turn elsewhere.

Azmut Mohamed, who owns a shop in Pennine Parade, Cricklewood, fears his business will be jeopardised by the loss of the nearby post office.

"Fifty per cent of shops along here have closed because the post office is closing. Nobody needs to come here anymore," he said.

"People will go to the other high streets where the post office is and use the shops there.

"My business is finished now, I can't keep going without customers."

Ashwin Thaker, who runs the East End Road branch, said: "I am really disappointed and I will have to sell up the whole shop.

"I don't think I can survive without the post office counter and that means there will be a shortfall of customers.

"I have been here for a long time and it will be difficult to find somewhere else, so it looks more and more bleak.

"I will look for some freelancing with the Post Office, but I can't blame Royal Mail for all this. It is down to the Government taking services out of the post office."

Nalin Depala, who is the clerk at the Finchley High Road branch, said: "It has been a real shock because customers come here but now it is going to close there is nothing for them here.

"There will only be a few counters in the area with not much parking, and people will have to wait in long queues and waste a lot of time just to pay a small bill.

"It's not fair for the community, and although I have been offered another job with the post office, I don't feel lucky because I have got to know everybody here and it is like a family.

"I have got to establish my own personality and people know me, but I won't know what sort of customers I will have if I go somewhere else."

Vinod Mehta, who runs the branch in Childs Hill, said: "It is disappointing and I don't know what I am going to do.

"It is very difficult with the business climate as it is now to find something else, but I would have loved to have stayed in the post office.

"It is one of the saddest things in the Post Office's history.

"I don't think they should have closed, they are a part of the British way of life, and a long-standing part of the community is being taken away.

"It wasn't a public consultation because they didn't listen to the public."

Kala Parthipan, who is the clerk at the Watford Way branch, in Hendon, said:"There are a lot of people upset and angry about the decision.

"One old lady was crying the morning after she found out this branch was closing, and most elderly people will not be able to walk to the other post offices very easily.

"I have been working here for ten years and I don't know what to do now.

"It's difficult because I know all the customers and so I am really going to miss this post office."