Local Post Office Closure Imminent
Public Service Assistant | 08.03.2005 17:01 | Cambridge | London
I've just found out this afternoon that my local Post Office on Chesterton Road, Cambridge has until March 19th of this month to stay open, then after that it's closing down, as per orders of Royal Mail head office.
Yes, that's just two weeks until it shuts down forever.
The next nearest PO's are Histon Rd., Arbury Court, and Central PO in town, all of them being a mile to a mile and a half walking distance away.
This makes no sense.
Every day there is a constant stream of customers going through their door, cashing Giros, and Pensions, buying Driving Licenses and much more besides.
In other words, it is a pivotal public service to our local community, one which has been previously threatened with closure last year, and one which was allowed a six month stay of execution, due to local peoples' campaigning - that is to say, the local community didn't want it to shut down.
This is in the light of the fact that barely a year ago, another Post Office just half a mile away was also shut down on Victoria Road.
Now, everyone I've spoken to today adopts a fatalistic approach to this:
"Oh, it's too late, the decision has been made" etc, ad nauseum, including the people who work there.
In other words, don't rock the boat, nothing good will come of it.
Well, if I truly believed that, I wouldn't be bothering to post this message, would I?
The first thing we can all do is to flood their...
COMPLAINTS HOTLINE:
08457 22 33 44
The second thing we can all do is make sure that our local head office knows what we, as a community want, and that profit margins should NOT be the sole motivation for running community services, but, what we, as human beings need for our communities to function in a coherent way should also be of importance.
It's telling that the government would rather waste billions of pounds on attempting to set up a totalitarian state, by means of anti-terror legislation (which isn't working), CCTV, and by national I.D. Cards, treating us all like insignificant statistics to push around and control, rather than as vital, intelligent creatures who live in communities that need public services of a decent standard to operate on our behalfs, to help us go about our lives.
What next?
If we just stand by and let this happen, other services will also be next.
Make a difference.
There is also still up, the following petition:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/cambridge/2003/11/282130.html
The next nearest PO's are Histon Rd., Arbury Court, and Central PO in town, all of them being a mile to a mile and a half walking distance away.
This makes no sense.
Every day there is a constant stream of customers going through their door, cashing Giros, and Pensions, buying Driving Licenses and much more besides.
In other words, it is a pivotal public service to our local community, one which has been previously threatened with closure last year, and one which was allowed a six month stay of execution, due to local peoples' campaigning - that is to say, the local community didn't want it to shut down.
This is in the light of the fact that barely a year ago, another Post Office just half a mile away was also shut down on Victoria Road.
Now, everyone I've spoken to today adopts a fatalistic approach to this:
"Oh, it's too late, the decision has been made" etc, ad nauseum, including the people who work there.
In other words, don't rock the boat, nothing good will come of it.
Well, if I truly believed that, I wouldn't be bothering to post this message, would I?
The first thing we can all do is to flood their...
COMPLAINTS HOTLINE:
08457 22 33 44
The second thing we can all do is make sure that our local head office knows what we, as a community want, and that profit margins should NOT be the sole motivation for running community services, but, what we, as human beings need for our communities to function in a coherent way should also be of importance.
It's telling that the government would rather waste billions of pounds on attempting to set up a totalitarian state, by means of anti-terror legislation (which isn't working), CCTV, and by national I.D. Cards, treating us all like insignificant statistics to push around and control, rather than as vital, intelligent creatures who live in communities that need public services of a decent standard to operate on our behalfs, to help us go about our lives.
What next?
If we just stand by and let this happen, other services will also be next.
Make a difference.
There is also still up, the following petition:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/cambridge/2003/11/282130.html
Public Service Assistant
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
Take it to the top...
09.03.2005 00:28
If you want to let the person at the top of "Royal Mail" know, here is his e-mail address:
Allan Leighton is the "Chairman" of Royal Mail and is directly responsible for the decision on any closures.
This bloke gets 180,000 per year from the Royal Mail, plus bonuses, for just 2 days a week of work and is a director of 9 companies. His total salary is around 750,000 per year.
So, perhaps he should donate some of his time and money to saving post offices, instead of keeping his nose in the trough!!!
More info here:
and here:
and here:
gmfreeman
Thanks for the tip off
09.03.2005 23:08
I have some questions prepared, with regards their global strategies (to use some biz-speak) so, perhaps I should email copies of them to him as well.
Whatever response I get, I'll make sure it finds it's way to our lovely Newswire here.
Public Service Assistant