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Eight post offices to close
4:44pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
Comments (2)EIGHT post offices in Lewisham and Greenwich will close, it has been announced.
Post Office Ltd said today (May 7)that 155 branches out of the 169 earmarked for closure in London will be axed.
These include post offices at Blackheath Hill, Bostal Hill, Eltham High Street, Plumstead Common Road and Woolwich Road, Greenwich.
A further three Lewisham branches at Hither Green Lane, Burnt Ash Hill, Lee, and New Cross Road will also shut.
The news follows a six-week public consultation which received around 27,600 responses from the capital's residents.
But manager of the Eltham High Street branch Sue Parmar said she had submitted a 1,300 signature petition against the closure and had never received a response.
She said: "I really feel for the elderly who can't make it to another post office.
"I also feel for local businesses because it's going to affect their customer flow."
Lewisham Council agreed at a full meeting on April 23 to look at the possibility of providing post office services from the three branches due to close.
The socialist councillor who put forward the motion Cllr Chris Flood said: "We think the post offices are a vital service and we don't just want to stand by and watch them close.
"I do hope it wasn't just talk and it's looked at seriously."
Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said: "This battle is not over yet.
"I will look at what further options are open, including legal action, and an investigation of other ways in which those post offices can be kept open."
Post Office Ltd network development manager for London Anita Turner said of the closures: "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly.
"We have considered very carefully all the comments made during the public consultation."
Your Say YourNews Shopper
James, Staring into space says...
10:40pm Thu 8 May 08
All of the services Post Offices provide will be accessible elsewhere and you can rest assured the level of customer service will be far better.
Had the Post Office moved with the times and in particular were its staff able to understand the concept of customer care, then maybe Post Offices would still be a key part of the local community.
The Post Office service is stuck in a time warp and the sooner this millstone around the neck of the taxpayer is broken up and disbanded the better.
We live in a world where cost effective good service = more customers. This is something that has passed Post Office staff by.
Goodbye Post Offices country wide, thanks for the queues, your ignorant, rude staff and your stinking buildings with carpets which harbour more fleas than a feral feline!
Residents and branch manager Sue Parmar had tried to save the post office in Eltham High Street
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dadshedz, london says...
11:24pm Wed 7 May 08
despite all the errors, understatements, overstatements
clustering of closures, Petitions, local campaigns, and letters. This is not a consultation,
this really is a sham
endoresed and supported by the Labour Government, I hope they can all sleep well in their beds knowing the extra problems they have caused the poor, disabled, infirm and elderly having to travel greater distances to post offices that often will be difficult to get to, crowded and forced to wait in longer queues, shame on all of you.