Fowey PO and DO Post service 'to be maintained'

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ROYAL Mail and Post Office Ltd have moved to allay concerns over the planned closure of Fowey's town-centre post office.

Some residents of the town expressed dismay after hearing that they might be unable to carry out everyday tasks such as obtaining car tax when the Fore Street building that currently houses the post office is sold.

However, the Post Office insists that services in Fowey will be maintained despite the closure.

A spokeswoman said the changes were simply a part of the largest investment and support programme in the company's history.

"The Post Office would like to reassure our customers in Fowey that are we committed to maintaining services in the area and are working hard in order to do so," she said.

"We're exploring our options and once a permanent solution is found we will hold a full public consultation on the proposed new site, which we hope will be very soon."

Post Office Ltd said it was too early to say when the change would occur, but they would make several visits to the town prior to the move.

In what the Post Office describes as a new direction for the business, around 6,000 post offices will be converted into new 'local' branches.

The spokeswoman stressed that it aimed to do this with as little disruption as possible to customers. "This programme aims to keep Post Office products and services at the heart of communities so we hope to provide as many of these services to the local area in Fowey as possible, including travel services and motor tax," she said.

Aside from the worries over the loss of over-the-counter services the news also brought concerns about the loss of the sorting office, which at the moment is housed in the same building.

Adrian Booth from Royal Mail said: "We can confirm that we're undertaking a study into the feasibility of moving our delivery office at Fowey to our delivery office in St Austell.

"As a commercial business, operating in a market that's open to competition from other postal operators, Royal Mail is always looking at ways to reduce its costs and improve efficiency, with minimal impact on customers.

"Whenever a delivery office move goes ahead, we would always offer our customers alternative means of receiving undelivered items of mail, including redelivery to the addressee, to another local address specified by the customer, or to arrange collection from a nearby Post Office branch."

Mr Booth added that any proposal would be thoroughly discussed with all staff affected. "There will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of this proposed merger," he declared.