The Tory PPC for North Warwickshire Dan Byles must have had mixed emotions when he read this morning's newspapers. It was he who discovered the 'Gestapo' letter send to sub postmasters by Royal Mail. He passed it onto the nationals who duly wrote the story. It made the front page of the Mail and the Telegraph. The only trouble was, poor old Dan didn't get any credit for uncovering the story from the papers. I thought I'd rectify that here. He says on his website..."The negative publicity seems to have frightened the Post Office into a u-turn, and they are apparently promising to withdraw these threats and issue letters of apology. I'll be watching to see whether they do, and more importantly whether they change their long running tactics of managing sub-Post Offices with intimidation and threats. We may have won this battle, but the fight goes on to stop the unnecessary branch closures - cuts that will effect the elederly and the vulnerable the most, and will have a disproportionate impact on rural communities in North Warwickshire. I urge people to help our campaign by signing our petition against further post office closures."
Interesting to note on LibDem Voice that there is an article slating the LibDems for running petitions on post office closures.
8 comments:
Mentioned on 'World at One' just now. Disgusting behaviour on the part of 'management' in my view.
And what with the relentless arbitrary closures of local branches, postal strikes etc the writing is on the wall for the Post Office.
Soon postmen will entirely disappear from our streets. Another fine achievement for the shareholders' benefit.
these guys are not merely heros to fellow sub-postmasters, they fight to keep the life blood of village life flowing. They're heros to all of us who believe that villages are the backbone of this country.
Every passing day, the claims that I made about New Labour 11 1/2 years ago are proven to be true. It's that Iain Dale and the rest of the world honour me like the Churchillian-visionary that I am.
It's Damn Real! It's Impluse!
YEAH!!!
Knowing how POL have managed the subbies over the years, for POL, this warning was just a standard threat letter.
If a subbie hasn't relentlessly sold financial services, or whatever else Bank of Ireland want to sell, they've had all kinds of abuse and threats. Mystery visits is standard behaviour for POL.
Having said all that, the current state of the Post Office is a classic case of nulab crap thinking and execution.
In many communities, the Post Office service and salary that the postmaster gets, helps keep the local shop open and generally anchors the village. For one part of HMG this is GOOD!
However using post offices to dish out benefits etc is very expensive compared to the internet etc. As the Treasury pays the bills, they have moved masses of services out of the post office to "save money". For them this is GOOD. Sod the local communities
Go figure!
Can anyone explain what the Tories would have been doing with the SPO and CPO network had they been in power these last 11 years? And just what they did to modernise the network in their 18 years in power.
The LDV item is an interesting provocation and has naturally brought a few stamping sandals.
I am probably going to get caned for this, but am I the only one that realises how anachronistic sub-post offices are?
You can now do everything they can do on line, including printing your own stamps. Plus, the post office delivery service is where the print unions were in the 1980's and they are going down the pan because they are inefficient, over manned and overpaid.
We don't need little old ladies selling stamps and faded hallmark greetings cards.
Wrinkled Weasel, yes you can get much of this stuff on line now. What you can't get is the social aspects of the trip to the post office, nor can you expect all geriatrics to have the means and skills to use the Internet.
Frankly I regard a trip to my local Post Office as step back in time - but quite enjoyable, nonetheless.
As to little old ladies - well just remember that you'll be one, one day.
I support Post Offices in principle, but they have to bring their counter service up to sctatch to meet the 21th century. Surly staff, with civil service attitudes, and who do not fully staff the counter at busy periods eg lunchtime, are not doing their cause any good at all.
Post a Comment