Posties face the axe in service shake-up

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A REVAMP of postal services is threatening hundreds of Tonbridge jobs after plans to merge the county's mail centres were announced.

As part of a Kent-wide review, Royal Mail wants to move the sorting office in Vale Road, which employs 420 people, to a hub site in the ME postcode area.

The Tonbridge office, along with the county's three other mail centres in Canterbury, Maidstone and Dartford, could be housed in the new office under the proposals. All the existing centres are more than 25 years old and do not have space to house the new technology Royal Mail says it needs.

Staff were told about the proposals on Friday, leaving the workforce with a worrying weekend.


One Royal Mail employee, who we agreed not to name, thought up to 200 jobs could be at risk.

She said: "A lot of people are worried because they're young people with families and they have got mortgages. There will be opportunities to move to the new site but it does mean quite a lot of travelling, especially for those that don't drive.

"I think they will have to offer early retirement or redundancy simply because of where the new place is going to be."

Although the news had not come as much of a surprise, she said there were still feelings of resentment amongst staff.

She added: "It's been on the cards for a long, long time. A lot of people who work there will have trouble finding other jobs."

Royal Mail said if staff could demonstrate "reasonable flexibility", it expects to be able to find roles for those that wish to stay with the company.

But one worker, who travels all the way from Hastings, said if his job was moved to the site Royal Mail is proposing, it would add an extra 45 minutes to his journey. And he said many other employees would be in a similar situation as they travel from Gatwick, Dartford and other areas.

Delivery offices in Tunbridge Wells, Edenbridge, Cranbrook and Crowborough are also at risk of closure under the proposals.

[Phantom]

See if they can transfer in to deliveries, we are so short staffed its unbelievable