Campaign to save Abbey Wood post office taken to Downing Street
A long running campaign to save Abbey Wood’s Crown Post Office has seen a petition handed in at Number 10.
More than 10,000 people signed the petition, which is asking for a Crown Post office to remain in Greenwich borough.
This is the last in the borough and the Post office announced closure in 2017 and now the landlord has asked them to vacate in January. No alternative site is confirmed.
A Crown Post Office offers a greater range of services than franchises including Border Agency services. Its closure will mean Dartford is the next closest. Only 300 out of 11,500 across the UK are Crown. Staff in franchises also often earn less.
The Post Office has an ongoing program to close and move Post offices to WH Smith stores. Personal experience shows they are often inadequate for the numbers wanting to use services.
Given there is no WHSmith in Abbey Wood or nearby (save for a tiny place in Abbey Wood station) could the Post Office move to a vacant unit by Sainsbury’s? This was earmarked by Greenwich Council as a new library, with £150,000 from Section 106 payment given to the authority from Sainsbury’s for fit out. This plan has fallen through and the site is still vacant:
Of course, even if it does move there, the Post Office may still insist upon the branch losing Crown status and resulting in lost services. It doesn’t solve the whole problem.
There is no logic whatsoever to franchising this office…..let’s keep it in plublic ownership and protect good services on the high street!!
Crown Post Offices must be retained, not closed. If they are closed then services are lost and new operators will only use untrained, minimum wage staff that are most likely not even vetted to comply with data protection and official secrets Acts etc. Proper Crown Office staff always have been in the past. Losing this type of office is just an unethical way to privatise Crown Offices to balance the Governments books! Some institutions cannot be privatised.
As someone who commutes from Abbey Wood to London everyday, I find it incredible that the Post Office are even considering closing Abbey Wood Post Office.
Not only is this the last Crown Office left in the whole of the London Borough of Greenwich, but it’s also a mere stones throw from Abbey Wood Station that has just been totally rebuilt with 2 extra platforms as the starting station for Crossrail in the Southeast.
I for one, do not want to queue in a convenience store squashed between rows of foodstuffs, served at only one counter position by someone that has not been trained or is as knowledgeable as someone in a Crown Office.
The Post Office need to stop this closure program now.
The Post Office is owned by the government and as such belongs to the people.
The government need to intervene and do it NOW!