A room at the civic offices has been transformed a fully-functioning Post Office after the city centre’s own facility suffered a serious fire.
Last month the main post office in Midsummer Boulevard suffered a serious fire as a result of a suspected arson attack while the branch was open serving customers.
The damage meant it has had to close temporarily, causing inconvenience to hordes of customers.
But Milton Keynes City Council quickly stepped in to offer bosses at Post Office Ltd space on the ground floor of the civic offices to construct a temporary facility.
The interim post office, which even has a separate door immediately to the right of the main civic offices entrance, opened this week offering the same opening hours, same staff and the majority of services still available.
There are five oPst Office counters, including at least one that is suitable for people with disabilities, which will be open full-time. Plus, there is a Post Office tablet for online passport and driving licence renewal services. There are no self-service machines.
The branch is on the ground floor with level access.
Paul Mead, Post Office Head of Directly Managed branches, said: “We are delighted to have restored Post Office services to the centre of Milton Keynes again with the friendly, familiar, staff who worked at the previous location.
“We know how important a Post Office is to residents, businesses and shoppers in Milton Keynes and we sincerely thank Milton Keynes City Council for quickly offering to provide space in its civic offices for an interim location as the normal building was badly affected by the fire. This allows us to provide vital services to the city centre, whilst we work towards re-opening a permanent branch.”
Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr Lauren Townsend said: “We quickly stepped in to offer ground floor space at Civic to give local people the continued convenience of a city centre post office. The space should be available for as long as it takes for the repairs to the Post Office permanent building to be finished.”
The opening hours for the interim Milton Keynes Post Office are the same as before: Monday - Friday: 9am – 6pm; Saturday: 9am – 5.30pm.
The are still the majority of Post Office services. Exceptions include paper-based passport check and send, Western Union money transfers, document certification and verification services including saving products and applications. SIA Licence Applications are available.
There is no retail space for stationery and packaging. Special philatelic products are unavailable including First day envelope, stamp cards, presentation packs, albums, mini- sheet, prestige book stamps, coin covers and smiler stamps.
On demand Post Office travel money is unavailable, however, customers can pre-order currency online and they can collect it from Milton Keynes Post Office. There will not be the ability to top up a Post Office Travelcard at the interim branch.
There is no ATM machine, however, cash can be withdrawn at the Post Office counters.
Pay and display car parking is available outside the council premises at both standard and premium rates.