Royal Mail taken to task over lack of communication

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Royal Mail taken to task over lack of communication on post office

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villagers claim they were not made aware of plans to close branch during renovations

By Stacey Horne

Published: 28/12/2009

Residents in a north-east village are delighted that their only post office will reopen – but have criticised the lack of communication from Royal Mail.

Mintlaw lost its branch in September when the BP garage, where it was based, was shut for renovations.

The Press and Journal revealed earlier this month that the post office will be up and running again at the filling station on January 7.

It has been operating from temporary premises in South Street since mid-October, and they will close on December 31.

A group of residents has said that they were not made aware of the plans and will complain to the Royal Mail about the way the situation was handled.

Leading the group is Margaret Thain, of Aden Circle, Mintlaw, who said she was very disappointed and that the changes could have been organised a lot better.

She also said she was unhappy that Mintlaw will have no post office services for the first week of the new year.

The 44-year-old said: “I am delighted that we are getting a newly-renovated post office, but the lack of communication with the people of the village has been terrible.

“We weren’t told it was going to close and then when it did we had to wait weeks for a temporary one to be put in place, and now it’s going to be closed for another week.

“Myself, along with three others, have decided to complain to the Royal Mail to make sure something like this doesn’t happen in another village or town.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “The owners of the post office initially planned to keep running the service while the work at the garage was carried out but due to health and safety reasons that was not allowed.

“So, unfortunately, for reasons beyond our control, the Mintlaw post office had to close. We apologise for the short notice but this was also unavoidable.”

The building work at the garage includes constructing a new unit to house the post office on a permanent basis.

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