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Ian Dabbs, postmaster of Parrs Wood Post Office in East Didsbury
Post offices to close next month - it's final
Susannah Wright14/ 8/2008
ANGRY postmasters have hit out at the decision to close their post offices – despite powerful protests from customers and politicians.
Barlow Road Post Office in Levenshulme, Parrs Wood PO in Didsbury, and Ladybarn PO in Withington are all to shut their doors for the last time next month.
The announcement by The Post Office has come despite a public consultation which saw thousands of people sign petitions to keep them open.
Councillors and Liberal Democrat MP John Leech have also been rallying support. Mr Leech, whose Withington constituency covers two of the post offices to close – Ladybarn and Parrs Wood – last month handed in a 1,500 petition to the government urging it to stop The Post Office plans.
Ian Dabbs has been postmaster at Parrs Wood Post Office for five years.
He said: "I’m very disappointed, especially after all the support from customers signing the petition and saying they wanted us to stay open.
"I feel sorry for a lot of the old people who are going to have to make other arrangements and for the local businesses too who like coming here.
"I just wish we were run as a service and not a business."
Mr Dabbs, 42, who lives in Stockport with his wife, Joanne, and two children, Lucy, ten, and Jack, nine.
He said: "I don’t really know what I’m going to do now. It’s a bad situation for the customers and for me personally."
Surendra Panda, postmaster of Ladybarn PO, said his customers had reacted with dismay to the news.
He said: "They are very unhappy about. We’re going to close for ever at the end of September and everybody is moaning about it. For me too, I’m going to have to find a new job."
Mohammed Usman has been postmaster of Barlow Road PO in Levenshulme for 18 months.
He said: "It’s going to be harder for elderly people and people with pushchairs as they are going to have to go further to get to another post office."
The closure of the post offices is part of a national cull. Only four of the 67 branches in Greater Manchester earmarked for closure by the Post Office in June have been saved.
Bosses claim the branches are no longer sustainable because people can now get key services – such as benefits payments – in different ways.
MP John Leech has gathered signatures for a ‘Save Our Post Office’ petition and had also been on protest outside the main post office in Manchester at Spring Gardens.
He said: "It appears that there was never any intention to reverse these closures and that is absolutely appalling.
"The consultation has been farcical and one-sided with a real lack of feedback by on the part of the consultation team."
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However, I don't believe that now is the time to give in. In some parts of the country, local councils have taken action to keep threatened offices open. Locally the best example is in Rochdale, where the council has provided a subsidy which has stopped the proposed closures.
Up to now Manchester City Council has offered plenty of words of support - and accepted that post offices are 'vital' for local communities. Now those words must be translated into action. If the council acts quickly it can save our post office. Its now up to all of us in the community to make clear our demand that the council saves all our post offices in Manchester.
19/08/2008 at 15:25