Post Office closure row grows

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Post Office closure row grows as one in five villages poised to lose out

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770

The Post Office was today condemned as "Stalinist" after it forced hundreds of postmasters to sign gagging orders banning them from revealing planned closures.

Royal Mail bosses are set to announce tomorrow which village post offices will close - with at least one in five expected to get the axe.

But it has emerged that post masters and post mistresses were told their fate in October, but were pressurised into signing confidentiality agreements.

The documents threatened them with financial penalties if they revealed which branches were under threat - forcing them to lie to customers.

Outraged campaigners say the gagging orders were put in place to stop protests but Royal Mail bosses claim they are there to protect the businesses.

Village sub-postmistress Emma Hands yesterday defied the order to speak out against the planned closure of the post office in Lacock, Wilts.

And on Saturday, over 200 protesters gathered there to demonstrate against the cuts. They were joined by North Wiltshire MP James Gray, who attacked Royal Mail and said: "This village typifies what an English village is about.

It is currently on TV every week in Cranford and with Harry Potter and all the other films made here it just shows that nowhere is safe from the axe.

"This village is so pretty and millions of people around the world know Lacock. The heartless Post Office are ripping the guts out of it and it's outrageous.

"It is also outrageous that she [Mrs Hands] has been made to sign this gagging order; it is like something Stalin would have done."

Tomorrow, Royal Mail begin a six-week consultation period on the threatened post offices but even optimistic campaigners think they are beyond saving.

Mrs Hands, 40, slammed the process as a farce and said: "Everything was already decided in October. "A man from the Post Office came round here but before he told me anything he made me sign this confidentiality agreement.

"I wasn't allowed to even tell my customers and it is terrible having to lie to them when they ask. They told me I would get financial penalties for breaking it but I don't care; it's about free speech and they put me in a very awkward position.

"I just don't know what I will do when it closes - this Post Office is my life."

A spokeswoman for the Post Office denied workers will be penalised for speaking out and said: "We can reassure any sub-postmaster there is no threat to compensation."

[Broxi51]

What a load of Bo**ocks! The voice of the common people come out from the crowd of indifference to protest. What do they expect? RM have to make savings if they can try to compete against the pathetic competition who are encouraged by postcon to strip away RM's most profitable customers. Postcon have shackled the way RM can fight back yet they still expect a Fu*king good service. Everything Postcon has done is to direct RM down the route of trying to become a profitable business at the expense of their once world class service.
What the Govt should do is cut postcons budget by 10 - 15% each year but set targets that they must acquire or be penalised if they dont. Let's see how they do 4-5 years down that road.
You cannot cut cut cut on one hand, prohibit RM from lowering prices to customers & replace experienced FT staff with casuals & PT staff and not notice a difference in quality.
The people must speak out about what they want and if it is no more closures then they must speak out at Postcon and this pathetic labour party or accept the consequences.

[norbet colon]

RM Group only withdrew the threat of reduced compensation to Subpostmasters when it was leaked to the papers , apparently staff had to keep it shut , no handing out of leaflets etc or their redundancy money would be stopped /cut .

They had the idea of the mystery customer to make sure staff were singing from the RM Group Hymm Sheet ," Nearer to my God than thee " as sung just before The Titantic went down , would have been a apt one .

So many own goals , contradictory poor communication & mixed messages , vast amounts of money spent on PR , spin that would make Alaistair Campbell blush , £10 million ad campaigns in towns which have had both Crown & Sub Post Offices closed . At least the RM Group are consistent .

Maybe the RM PR team could promote excessive drinking on brewery tours or selling whelks in the media .