Missing key forces closure of Hoddesdon Post Office

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BUMBLING Hoddesdon Post Office workers are being blamed for losing the key that allows them to open up every morning.

The High Street branch was shut for several hours on Monday after the reported mishap, with colleagues in the Stevenage office also thought to have been unable to find the spare key.

Stunned customers, including many elderly people with mobility difficulties, were astonished to hear the rumoured reason for the closure as scores of them gathered outside.

They had to trek to the Stanstead Road office at the other end of town or to Wormley, as the Broxbourne outlet recently shut as part of a wave of closures to “modernise and reshape” the network.

Regular customer and pensioner Alan Taylor, 79, had wanted to post a letter to his wife, who lives in Spain, on Monday morning.

He said: “People couldn’t believe it. If they had lost the key you wouldn’t have thought it was a major thing to get an emergency locksmith.

“It’s a ridiculous situation that such a vast organisation as the Post Office could have allowed such a small thing as a lost key to cause such disruption to so many.”

Mr Taylor, who lives in Broxbourne, added: “Everyone was milling about and grumbling.

“I couldn’t possibly walk down to Stanstead Road so I was forced to catch the bus to Wormley.”

A Post Office spokeswoman said: “Hoddesdon Post Office was closed temporarily on May 11 and reopened at lunchtime.

“This was due to reasons beyond our control. We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”

When asked about the lost key claims, the spokeswoman said she was unable to comment further due to “security reasons”.