Mike Hall MP

Labour Party | Weaver Vale

Post Office

The Post Office Ltd have announced that they are to transfer the Post Office from its current site in Halton Lea to WHSmith.

The Post Ltd. are not consulting on this move because they say the decision to transfer the Post Office services to WHSmith is a ‘commercial decision to be taken solely by Post Office Ltd and is, therefore, not subject to public debate or consent’.

The Post Office Ltd then go onto say it is important to them that representative like me, understand the rationale behind their decision and that I have the opportunity to comment on the facilities that will be available at the new branch.

Mike Hall M.P. said:

‘The Post Office Ltd has said their business nationwide is losing £4 million a week. However, they have not given any specific reasons why they want to transfer the Halton Lea Post Office to WHSmith. They have not said that the Post Office at its current location in Halton Lea is losing money, or providing customers with a poor level of service. They have not said the current location is inaccessible for customers.

I believe the Post Office in Halton Lea is a profitable business, it is accessible and it provides a very good level of service for its customers.

The Post Office Ltd have not provided the people of Runcorn with any information to justify the transfer of the business to WHSmith. No wonder they do not want to know what we feel about this decision.

I believe that moving the Post Office to WHSmith will result in a reduction of service, it will see the lose of the stamp vending machine queues will get longer and the time waiting to get served will increase.

The Post Office has taken a very high handed approach to the people of Runcorn. They are not even attempting to pay lip service to consultation on this very important issue.

I want to the Post Office to publish the trading figures of the Halton Lea Post Office so that we can see if the business is trading at a profit or loss. I want the Post Office to publish their current customer numbers and how many customers they expect to use the Post Office if it transfers to WHSmith.

I want the Post Office Ltd to engage in full and open consultation on their proposals. I want them to give full consideration to the case for keeping the Halton Lea Post Office at it’s current location.’