Andrew Turner has been stand up (literally) for the people of the Island when he spoke about the closure of post offices at a debate about the Royal Mail and Post Office in a Westminster Hall debate recently.
He explained that he’d been writing to the Post Office to them ask why some, seemingly profitable, branches were destined for closure. Sadly he said he I failed to get any sort of sensible reply.
Once it had been decided that they would close, he contacted them again asking for documentary evidence that the views of the people of the Isle of Wight had been taken into consideration, only to find out that “no such evidence was available.”
No sense to closures
We all know how busy the Newport Post Office can be, with queues snaking back and forth. Andrew Turner pointed out that this makes is all the more amazing that the handy alternative at Hunnyhill was closed, loading even more pressure on to the Newport branch.
Other examples that he gave were the closure of the Post Office at Meadow road, East Cowes, given 500 homes were soon going to be built next to the closing branch.
Lowtherville sub Post Office came up, with Andrew Turner pointing out that the residents of needed to go down the hill to Ventnor (apparently “one of the steepest inclines in the country”) to use the post office. The trip for the down made all the harder for elderly and disabled people, as the ‘kneeling’ bus couldn’t be used due to the kerbs preventing it from working properly.
The final example he gave demonstrated an apparent lack of research by the Post Office. With Calbourne marked for closure, the Post Office suggested Brighstone, a 20 miles round journey on the bus – when in fact Carisbrooke or Newport where much closer.
Andrew Turner finished with
“In conclusion, the Post Office’s scheme was ill-planned and insensitive to the needs of my constituents. The post office service is in an unusual position because it faces no competition and receives a great deal of public money as subsidy. My constituents deserve better.”
