A Letter from the Editor about the Post Office

We need to provide vigorous opposition to closure

Editors are supposed to be reasonably impartial, but this is one issue over which I can't pretend to balance anywhere even close to a fence. More than one visitor to ActonW3.com has suggested that I should start an e-petition to save the Churchfield Road post office - my local.

However, although I would like to think that the internet is a very powerful tool, I am certain that individual emails and letters, sent to Anita Turner (Network Development Manager at Post Office Ltd) with copies to Andy Slaughter, Bassam Mahfouz, Angie Bray, Jason Stacey and local councillors Vlod Barczuk, Seema Kumar, and Marie Randall (email addresses in box to right) would carry more weight than an e-petition.

I have also placed a petition in the Churchfield Road Post Office and would urge you all to go down there and sign it. You could also take a couple of printed copies and doorstep your neighbours. Although the consultation being run by Post Office Ltd seems like a bit of a waste of time, we should not let PO Ltd close down our local Post Office without voicing our strong objection and doing everything we can to stop it.

Here is the letter. Those who don't want to compose their own could use it as a template. I have tried to stick to the points which I understand are most likely to be considered by PO Ltd. Unfortunately, eulogising about how the Taanks are one of a handful of shops providing a much-valued personal service is not an argument likely to carry much weight with the powers that be.

I urge everyone to sign the petition and write or email PO Ltd.

Clare Gittins

Anita Turner
Network Development Manager
Post Office Ltd
c/o National Consultation Team
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM

Dear Ms Turner

Re: Churchfield Road Post Office, London W3

I am writing to let you know that I strongly object to the closure of the above Post Office.

Acton Main Post Office in Market Square is a poorly-run, badly-lit, grubby, impersonal establishment with perpetually long (at least 20 minutes) queues. Your plan does not appear to include any commitment to enhance or improve the dreadful level of service there. A visit there is something to be avoided at all costs.

The journey to this post office from the area currently served by the Churchfield Road Post Office is not possible by public transport.

The area served by Churchfield Road Post Office is inhabited by many elderly, disabled and infirm people with a number of centres housing the elderly. These people will not be able to access the main Post Office, or indeed either of the alternatives whose details are given in your document. If they do manage to get there, it is difficult to imagine how they will manage the interminable queues and unfriendly, rushed service.

Please note that it is also extremely unlikely that elderly people are likely to have access to the internet to enable them to use on-line services.

Churchfield Road Post Office is run by a well-liked member of the community and his wife. They go out of their way to help people in the surrounding area with form-filling and other everyday tasks which many of them find difficult.

Churchfield Road Post Office is a busy, well-run business with respectable takings. It attracts many people to visit Churchfield Road on foot. This is important for other businesses on Churchfield Road as supermarkets threaten their livelihood (Acton Main Post Office is next door to a large Morrisons).

The majority of people living in this neighbourhood consider Churchfield Road Post Office to be a valuable part of the community and we would urge PO Ltd to re-consider their decision to close it.

Yours sincerely

March 4, 2008