Cubie Street sorting office closure leaves local community

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Cubie Street sorting office closure leaves local community vulnerable

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Coming home to a ‘Sorry you were out’ card on the doormat sometimes ruins the excitement of getting a delivery in the first place.

Knowing we’ll have to queue at the nearest sorting office makes most of us grumble, or bemoan Granny’s refusal to pay for that extra Christmas card stamp.

Now imagine that your sorting office was miles away, with no direct bus route or tube line to transport you to your undelivered post. To collect a package, however valuable sentimentally, might mean a costly round trip in a taxi or several miles walking in the temperamental Glaswegian weather.

This is a reality faced by the Glasgow communities of Dennistoun, Dalmarnock, Calton and Bridgeton, as Royal Mail is planning to close the Cubie Street sorting office that these neighbourhoods rely on. The sorting office, which Royal Mail claim is too small to be fit for purpose, will be relocated to Cambuslang in January 2013.

Many of the 25,000 local residents that stand to be affected by the closure have been fighting against Royal Mail’s decision and have rallied support at community council meetings. In fact, 493 people have publicly rejected the proposed closure in an online pettion as part of the communities' Save Our Sorting Office campaign.

East Centre councillor Jennifer Dunn is due to put forward a motion at a Glasgow City Council meeting on Thursday December 13 to oppose the plans. She intends to highlight Royal Mail’s ineffective communication with the local community and ask that the Chief Executive of the Council write to Royal Mail to request further consultation with community councils about future Glasgow closures.

Bridgeton resident John Cooper, 81, suffers from a bad back, which affects his mobility and prevents him from walking long distances. He is concerned about the Cubie Street sorting office closure, as he has no form of transport of his own to get to Cambuslang.

“I’m going to be very much affected by the closure,” said John.

“There’s no bus route to get to the new office, and if you miss your mail there’s no way to get there. They say the new one’s in Cambuslang but it’s not in Cambuslang, it’s the wrong side of the Clyde to be Cambuslang.

“It’s nearly a mile and a half to walk. It doesn’t help anyone in the East End. If you miss your mail you have to travel. I’ve no car – I rely on public transport like a lot of people round here.”

As the closure affects some of Glasgow’s most deprived areas, the financial impact on individuals and families may be substantial. John estimates that a private hire taxi from his home to the new sorting office would cost in the region of £10, which would be added to any holding fee charged by the post office for his undelivered mail.

With ice making the pavements in the area more and more treacherous, John cannot risk leaving the house to nip to the shops, let alone make the long walk to collect his mail from the new sorting office.

“Just now the roads are icy, so I’m in the house,” said John.

“When you have a walking stick in this weather, the stick just goes out from under you, and we don’t get the gritters out here. Our wee corner of Bridgeton is ignored a lot of the time.

“The post office tell us their hands are tied, they’ve had orders up from London. They weren’t prepared to listen to us – but this affects the whole south east of Glasgow. It really is bad, bad news.”

One of the main issues community councils have raised against Royal Mail is the lack of communication and consultation with locals about the move. Residents claim news of the closure spread mostly through rumour, with no announcements made by Royal Mail until they were confronted by the public.

“They never informed anybody,” said John Henderson, Chair of Dalmarnock and Bridgeton community council.

“They had no consultations, but they began discussing it with their workers and the postmen told us.

“The people in the communities are concerned and don’t know what to do. I don’t know why Cubie Street is closing. I know they have a policy to centralise everything, but that takes it away from the community. It’s not in easy reach.”

Alternative services have been suggested by Royal Mail in the absence of Cubie Street, including the redirection of post via the website, redelivery to a local post office, or leaving mail with neighbours.

Residents believe that the online solutions will not be accessible to the section of society most likely to be unable to travel to the sorting office, such as the elderly.

Redelivery to a local post office costs £1.50, a charge that many in this deprived area of Glasgow cannot afford to spend, and leaving packages or mail with neighbours may lead to mail going missing.

Royal Mail spokeswoman, Julie Pirone, said: “Royal Mail's planning for this move is continuing and all stakeholders affected by the change have already been written to. Customers and stakeholders will be written to later this month confirming arrangements.

"The relocation is a commercial decision to move to a new world class operational facility at the Glasgow South East Delivery Office in Fullarton Drive in G32.

"This move is part of a £1m investment plan for our operations in the Glasgow area and is part of our continuous drive to deliver and improve our service to customers.

"Royal Mail is undertaking a UK wide transformation and modernisation programme as the business faces a dramatic decline in traditional letter mail and a continuing rise in parcels.

"Royal Mail offers free redelivery to a customer's address on a day of their choice including Saturdays or free delivery to another address in the same postcode area. We are also using delivery to neighbour which our postmen and women use when customers are not home. "