Postal service will get worse if jobs move, say MPs

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http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/bu ... ticle.html

MPs say Stoke-on-Trent's below par mail service is only going to worsen after operations are moved nearly 40 miles away.

The city's three representatives, Mark Fisher, Rob Flello and Joan Walley, have come out in opposition to Royal Mail's plans to move up to 400 jobs from Leek Road, Stoke, to Wolverhampton.

They are speaking out after a report to Postcomm named Stoke-on-Trent as the only city where fewer than 90 per cent of first-class mail arrives on time.

More than 80 night-time sorting positions have already been transferred to the North West Midlands Mail Centre in Wolverhampton, and more than 100 collection and distribution posts are expected to follow next year.

However, it is understood plans to sell the Stoke mail centre have stalled, because of the depressed property market.

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Mr Fisher said: "There are going to be people posting letters in Stoke-on-Trent to others in Stoke-on-Trent and they go through Wolverhampton and come back again – that is completely absurd.

"It is not right when we are trying hard to encourage businesses into North Staffordshire that the mail from local companies should be treated in this way. Nor is it right for the people who live here to have their mail handled worse than anywhere else in the country."

The MPs have held meetings with minister for postal services Pat McFadden to protest against the plans.

Mr Flello, MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, said: "The local postal workers do a fantastic job. But I agree with the unions that if you are going to have letters trundling up and down the M6, one of the busiest roads in Europe, you are going to continue to get delays."

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the transfer to Wolverhampton was part of plans to improve the service and provide a better working environment for staff.