Speaker joins fight for sorting office closure in Princes Ri

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Speaker joins hundreds to fight sorting office closure in Princes Risborough


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HUNDREDS of people turned out to support the campaign to stop the closure of Princes Risborough delivery office with the Speaker of the House of Commons adding his weight to the cause.

Royal Mail said it will close the Princes Risborough Sorting Office in Bell Street in the autumn and move it six and a half miles away to the Aylesbury Vale office.

Speaker John Bercow passionately fought the campaign group's corner and criticised Royal Mail for not “bothering” to turn up at the meeting last night in the Royal British Legion in Bell Street.

Mr Bercow said: “It is the hight of bad manners that no-one from Royal mail could be bothered to come.”

A count at the door gave the number of people there to be 204 and a petition to stop the closure had 1,500 signatures.

Royal Mail previously said they are re-locating the office due to the decreasing level of post and updating technology. It said there will be a system which will re-deliver post if residents are out when it is first delivered.

But postman Andy Ball, who is also a retained fireman, said the move is purely to raise £750,000 from the sale of the building.

He said the workers want to find out how much it costs to run the sorting office, which is over the road from the legion memorial hall which was closed last year, so they can look for other premises in the town.

Mr Ball said parking is still an issue at the Aylesbury Vale branch and there is not enough room there to accommodate the postmen and said they may have to resort to industrial action.

Cllr Alan Turner told the meeting he did not think there was a chance to stop the sale of the building but he said he thought if they provided a good case it could be moved somewhere else in the town, suggesting Regents Park.

One member of the public, who worked at another sorting office in Oxfordshire, said there would be more vans on the road resulting in higher petrol costs and questioned what the long term savings would be.

Mr Bercow said he only received a generic response from Royal Mail and wanted to arrange a further meeting.

He said the delivery office is doing a good job and the move will not save money in the long run.

He said: “Royal Mail hasn't taken a long term view or modern view- it's just a let's grab it and run.”

Coaches are going to be arranged to go to the HQ in London to protest against the proposed closure.