Private post office set to open in Wigston

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A new private post office is set to open in Wigston.

Local people have been left with a longer trip to post their parcels since the counter in the Co-op in Bell Street shut, along with the department store, at the end of January.

On Monday, a new branch of Post and Packing will open in a former tanning salon at 54 Leicester Road, Wigston, offering all of the Post Office postal services but not things like pensions, DVLA services and passports.

The franchise owner is former mobile phone shop manager Kayum Noray, who said the town was in dire need of a post office.

He said: "I live in Wigston myself so I know how difficult it's been for people having to go elsewhere to post their parcels. A lot of people use Post Offices for selling on eBay these days and there are also a lot of potential business customers out there."

Posting packages will be just like at a Post Office and customers will also pay the same rates or lower, Kayum said.

He said: "We do everything the Post Office used to do in terms of sending letters and parcels around the UK and overseas. We have contracts with Royal Mail and other post companies.

"What we also offer is a PO box service for businesses that want to have their mail delivered straight to us - we can even hold stock and pack it and post it out to customers as and when they need us to.

"I'm looking forward to opening the branch - I'm trying to help the community and do something for local people as well as helping myself."

But veteran Wigston councillor Bill Boulter said the shop would not satisfy everyone.

He said: "I think a lot of people want a proper Post Office - not half the job.

"This new shop won't be able to do passports or pensions and a lot of people have been frustrated since the Post Office at the Co-op shut. They're having to walk a long way to get their pensions.

"We're still going to be asking the Post Office Ltd to provide a new Post Office in Wigston."

[Lounge Lizard]

"Posting packages will be just like at a Post Office and customers will also pay the same rates or lower, Kayum said" so a letter anywhere in the UK for 54p.