Thousands of signatures ignored by the Post Office

4:53pm Wednesday 9th July 2008

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Thousands of petition signatures and letters were completely ignored by the Post Office when it made its decision to close six branches, it emerged this week, leading to calls for the closure consultation to reopen.

Customers and staff campaigned tirelessly, but ultimately without success, to the save the six local branches. A 3,000 signature petition organised by the Kingston Guardian's sister paper Surrey Comet was presented at the House of Commons by MP Edward Davey at the end of the consultation period in April.

“It makes me feel so angry. I bent over backwards to get all those signatures and now I hear that they only got 120. It’s just rubbish."

Lesley Harrison

But the Post Office admitted it only counted one petition with 120 signatures and 65 letters and emails when it decided to axe all the offices earmarked for closure.

The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act to parliamentary candidate Helen Whately, has highlighted holes in the consultation process and outraged the people who fought to save them.

Lesley Harrison, former sub postmaster at Plough Green post office in Worcester Park, who collected 3,000 signatures, said: "It makes me feel so angry. I bent over backwards to get all those signatures and now I hear that they only got 120. It's just rubbish.

"Why did I waste my time and why did my customers waste their time writing it down?"

The 3,000 Surrey Comet signatures and 2,000 more collected by MP Edward Davey were taken to the House of Commons to be passed on to the Department of Trade and Industry and then Post Office.

He said: "The Post Office employs people to follow the House of Commons. If they were lost it would have to be the most inefficient and negligent process imaginable."

Helen Whately hand delivered nearly 2,000 petition signatures and 200 letters directly to Post Office headquarters on March 30 and they still appear to have been lost in the system.

She said: "Many of the letters provided important information for the consultation. Would our post offices have been saved if our petitions and letters had been taken into account?"

The post offices in Surbiton Road, Richmond Road, Burlington Road, Malden Road, Hook Rise South and Kingston Road, New Malden, all closed for good last month, but MP Edward Davey is demanding the consultation is reopened.

No one from the Post Office was available for comment.