MORE than 3,000 signatures have been collected in protest to the closure of a Royal Mail sorting office in Longfield.

It follows Royal Mail’s decision to centralise their services across the county and could see services from Longfield’s sorting office in Hartley Road moved to Dartford.

Residents of Longfield, New Barn, Hartley, New Ash Green and Fawkham will then be forced to travel to Dartford for any undelivered mail.

The petition, which can be found online at petitionbuzz.com, was set up by staff in December last year and so far has 3,434 signatures.

They hope to get 8,000 signatures before they send it to the chief executive of Royal Mail, Moya Greene, requesting the plans for the closure be stopped.

Lindsey Pankhurst has lived in Ash Road, Longfield with her family for 22 years and was one of the first people to sign the petition.

The 55-year-old, who works from home as a medical administrator for a pharmaceutical company, says she was surprised by the proposal.

She said: “It was a complete shock - I work from home and I rely on getting my parcels and letters to get delivered on a daily basis.

“If it closes, I will have to travel to Dartford which is an hour and a half out of my working day- it’s very inconvenient.”

The mother-of-two’s husband, Brian, also feels strongly against Royal Mail’s plans to close the sorting office.

He said: “It seems nonsense.

“Moving it to Dartford seems ridiculous.

“If you take the combined population who use the sorting office, it would itself demand one in the area.

“There is only one road to Dartford and its busy enough as it is - it would also impact on the frail and elderly who use it.

“We would definitely miss it if it moved.”

Divisional representative for the South East region of the Royal Mail workers’ union, CWU, Steve Wisely says postal workers are worried the move could impact on delivery times.

He said “Staff are determined to try and fight the closure.

“They feel there would be deterioration in their services and they will have to drive an unnecessary distance of eight miles to collect the mail from Dartford, just to bring it back to Longfield again.”

Royal Mail has not confirmed when the closure will take place, but it could be as early as spring next year.

MP for Dartford Gareth Johnson says he has secured a guarantee to allow residents to collect their undelivered mail from a location, not yet disclosed, in Longfield.

He said: “A number of concerned residents have contacted me to express their concerns over the future of Longfield sorting office.

“I have secured a guarantee with the Department for Business, Innovation and Science that no resident in Longfield, New Barn or Hartley will have to travel to Dartford to collect any undelivered mail.

“Instead there will continue to be provision in Longfield where local residents can collect any items that the Royal Mail have been unable to deliver.

“Whilst the campaign to keep the sorting office in Longfield open continues, I am delighted that Longfield, New Barn and Hartley residents have this guarantee.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail says it is too early to confirm whether a location will be provided in Longfield for residents to collect undelivered mail.