OSTERLEY residents have been so angered by the proposals to close their local post office on Thornbury Road, that they have started a petition in protest of the plans.

While residents say that since the closure of the nearby Barclays Bank makes it is even more vital to keep the post office open - as it is effectively the area's only bank, postmasters say that there is not enough business in the area to keep it open.

Denise Speed, 76, has lived in St Mary's Crescent since 1961, and has used the post office for over forty years, has already written to Drew McBride, the Head of Area, protesting. She has just started a petition against the closure, with over 50 signatures already, but she hopes to get more before the consultation process is completed.

I'm very indignant about it closing. Most people don't even know it's going and the trouble is once an amenity goes, when it's gone, it's gone. We need to protest about this, even if we're unsuccessful, at least we will have tried.'

Mrs Speed, a grandmother, has recently had a knee replacement and has restricted mobility. She can walk to the post office at the end of her road with the aid of a walker but would not be able to make a longer trip. There are a lot of elderly people living round here and also mums with kids, who can't do two mile walks.''

She continued: The post office is not concentrating on service to individual locals any more, which is what it was originally set up to do, they're just trying to sort out their financial difficulties by rationalisation and redundancies, which are nasty words.''

Another resident, Stephanie Moncrieff is also furious at the proposal: The unceasing quest for 'profitability' at the expense of 'providing a service' means that the Post Office has gone or is going in the same direction as our public transport system and the net losers are ordinary citizens who feel powerless to prevent the erosion of services that we should be able to take for granted.''

She continued: At 52, I'm not yet infirm, but even I will have to use a car now to go to the proposed alternative post offices, thus adding extra vehicle usage to roads that are congested already. The London Road Post Office has parking meters and yellow lines and it is difficult to park nearby.

How are the elderly and disabled in our community going to manage? Who cares about them? What happens to those who are too old to be able to drive a car with any degree of safety or don't have a car? What happens to those who are too young to drive or cannot afford a car and must walk or try to catch one of our irregular buses to use a post office?''

Local Councillor, Peter Carey, has also condemned the closure proposals, he said: ''I'm totally against the closure, it's very much a part of the centre of the community and the community is already in danger of disintegrating - it'll be a real shame if it closes.''

But Kirpal Notay, postmistress of Thornbury Road, who is due to retire when the post office closes, argued: There is really no business here. It keeps going down and down, it's so quiet now, it's not viable.''

May 30, 2003 12:00