An active and accessible Post Office is a vital part of any local community, particularly so for the elderly and those with no private transport. Devizes MP Danny Kruger has intervened with Post Office senior management in an effort to to resolve this longstanding problem.
The Marlborough branch at the back of One Stop in the High Street has been closed for the entire lockdown period, and intermittently beforehand, sometimes for days on end, creating great difficulty for many in the community as the Post Office provides a basic and necessary fundamental range of services.
This morning, Friday 19 June Danny issued the following statement:
“Throughout the lockdown a real issue for people in Marlborough has been the closure of the Post Office. This has made life harder for people who can’t drive to other towns, especially the elderly, including those who receive their pensions in cash from the Post Office.
I have taken this up with Royal Mail and understand that the Post Office will shortly re-open and there are no plans to close it again. But we know there were often sudden closures – because of staffing problems – before the lockdown, and we can’t be confident it won’t happen again.
I spoke this week to a senior director at the Post Office nationally to discuss the role the network can and should play in the future. We urgently need a more stable service in our local Post Offices to make local communities stronger and more resilient.“
The Post Office has been keen to direct customers to other operational branches in the area, such as Burbage, Aldbourne, Pewsey, Avebury and Ramsbury or Great Bedwyn. But a visit to each would require either an otherwise unnecessary car journey, or trip by bus for a resident with no access to private transport, which, in the current health crisis could prove hazardous. Hopefully this should be resolved very soon.
Bruce Boats of Bedwyn – caring for carers on the Kennet & Avon
