Save our sorting office - petition

Save our Sorting Office!

A petition of several hundred signatures has been sent to Allan Leighton, the Chairman of Royal Mail as part of the fight to keep Brooke Road Sorting Office open in Hackney.

The petition which has also been signed by councillors from all three of the major political parties on Hackney Council, local residents and members of the local business community, says the proposed closure is against the interests of local residents, businesses, older people and the disabled.

The petition goes on: This proposed action is both damaging and misguided, and we believe should be re-thought with the growing needs of local people in mind.

Leabridge Ward Councillor Ian Rathbone, organiser of the petition, said: People from this area will be forced to travel for more than an hour to and from Leyton along Leabridge Road, one of the busiest roads in London, to collect their undelivered mail at a cost of at least #1.40 on bus journeys.

We have sent the petition to the top at Royal Mail because we are concerned they are aware of their removing such an important amenity from a deprived area of the country. Hackney is still one of the most deprived boroughs in the country and the area where Royal Mail are proposing to remove the service has many on the poverty line, disabled and elderly people. We are suffering because Royal Mail lost #600m last year and need to find their profitability.

Royal Mail have recently said that they are offering Clapton a local facility for collecting undelivered mail. But they were already offering this  at an unspecified local Post office where you would have to pay 50p.

We dont see why we should pay. And this means a loss of service as the sorting office is open from 7am whereas the Post Office is only open from 9am. This means collecting on Saturday morning  adding more than 200 people wanting to collect undelivered mail to the already long queues.

How do they expect us to have any confidence in their suggestions that we use the local Post Office to collect undelivered mail when they are closing down Post Offices in deprived boroughs? One was recently closed in Shoreditch - and the recent closure of the Mare Street office shows how devastating this can be.

We are also unhappy at the lack of consultation about the way Royal Mail approached the proposed closing the Sorting Office. It was only due to the diligence of the local newspaper that the matter became public and that something was happening. We are still unclear as to what kind of consultation with residents  their customers is taking place, or when.

The sorting office service as it is now needs to stay here to be accessible for the elderly and those with mobility impairment.

Some residents are also concerned that domestic deliveries to around 16,000 addresses in E5 will be made from Leyton meaning later deliveries during the day and other delays.

We feel if we dont fight back, then the next step will be more closures of local Post Offices as in Shoreditch High Street, and in neighbouring Tower hamlets and Newham which makes a mockery of the public service element of their business.

Cllr Rathbone added: After a public questioning of the Royal Mail managers at a community meeting of the Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action group in June, it was unclear if they had really bothered to find an alternative venue. I am also concerned at the job loss involved in closing this sorting office.

We have pressed them to go away and think again about maintaining a local Clapton Office from which to collect parcels and other post by arrangement. Otherwise they are forcing Hackney residents  including up to 200 people on a Saturday morning - to spend #1.40 in bus fares and spend an hour travelling to collect their post. 

This Page was last update: Monday, November 24, 2003 at 7:21:49 PM
This page was originally posted: 11/24/2003; 7:21:49 PM.
Copyright 2009 Clapton Pond
Neighbourhood Action Group

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