Shepperton village Post Office under threat

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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SHEPPERTON village Post Office is under threat of closure as owners report a 60% decline in business in recent months.

Now Tom O'Connor and Sharon Simmonds, who run the Post Office in High Street, may be forced to close and have put up a Lord Kitchener style posters to encourage people through the doors.

Tom O'Connor said: "The posters are to try to get people to use the High Street for their shopping. Computers have taken over the world, one day we will look up and the High Street will have gone because we don't use it. People are doing a lot of their shopping online, especially things such as car tax, and that hits us hard. Two to three years ago, the queues were were out the door but now they are smaller. With car tax, and foreign currency, you could walk in here, and walk out straight away with it but when you order it online it takes days to arrive."

Mr O'Connor, who has run the Post Office for the last six years with his partner, thinks the decline in people using the Post Office may be down to a generational divide, where young people are less likely to use the services they provide. He said: "Times are changing, eventually more and more Post Offices will close down. We will lose the character and identity of a town. I think it's a generational thing, not that many young people know how to use the Post Office, some don't even know where to put a stamp on a letter."

Mrs Helen Jones, 76, who lives in St Andrew's Close, Shepperton said: "I think it would be very sad if they had to close, as there a lot of pensioners who collect their pensions there, and business people rely on it. I use the Post Office about once a week, I would really miss it if it would shut down. It would be the older generation who would suffer the most."

The posters, displayed on the windows of the Post Office, denote an image of the former Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, made famous by a British Army recruitment poster from 1914.

[cdpete2004]

Does anybody know how to get POL to offer closure terms ? I know that the government announced 'no compulsory office closure program' during the life of this parliament, but there seems to be some money set aside, and some provision for agents not wanting to work 24/7 under this new plan they're hashing together, for what I'd consider could be called a 'voluntary office closure program'. I want to sign up if there is a package available. Alternativley I'd like the town to buy into the big society idea and buy my post office. Today, would be good.