Garndiffaith residents petition for post office to reopen

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RESIDENTS campaigning to reopen Garndiffaith post office collected a petition containing more than 250 signatures.

Garndiffaith residents have been left in limbo since the post office on Stanley Road closed in September last year, and claim the loss of the branch is having a severe effect on the elderly and young families.

Royal Mail has not provided a mobile post office to ease the effects of the closure, which it said was due to" circumstances beyond its control", and customers have been told the branch will remain shut until further notice.

But residents have now collected around 270 signatures asking for the branch to be replaced by a mobile service, and Abersychan councillor Gwyneira Clark is calling on Royal Mail to meet with residents and councillors to find a solution.

Cllr Clark said many people were having to travel to Talywain or Abersychan to draw their pension or benefits.

This has been particularly difficult during the snow when bus services were cancelled and many residents, including pensioners, were forced to walk to the nearest post office in treacherous conditions.

She added: "I am begging the Post Office to talk with us to find an alternative."

Garndiffaith resident Ken Clark, 77, said: "For people who are not very active, travelling by bus to Abersychan or Talywain can be an ordeal, and it's also is also having an effect on other businesses in the area because people tend to do all their shopping in one place."

Daisy Goddard, 81, of Stanley Road, said she used the post office to draw her pension each week.

She said: "I have to use the cash machine at the Co-op now, which I don't like doing, but I also miss the interaction with the people behind the counter and bumping into my friends. It's taken away my independence."

Sub postmaster Page Steadman said the office would be opened as soon as possible, but did not want to comment on why the office had to shut.

A post office spokesman apologised for the temporary closure but said it was "committed to providing a service to the residents of Garndiffaith in the long term".