Post office decision delay causing frustration (From Thurrock Gazette)

Post office decision delay causing frustration

3:00pm Friday 8th February 2013 in News

FRUSTRATED shopkeepers want the Post Office to make a decision on the future of its Grays base.

The Post Office, which is at the back of the WH Smith store in Grays Shopping Centre, faces an uncertain future after WH Smith confirmed its store will close on Saturday, March 2.

The Post Office says it wants to stay open in the town centre, but has not yet finalised a plan as to where.

Keith Evans, manager of Grays Shopping Centre, pictured below, said he has been in talks with the company, but has not been told what its decision is.

He said: “We are actually engaged with the Post Office for a mutually beneficial solution for the customers.

“All we know is it is between the Post Office and WH Smith to resolve it. We can’t do any more. Everybody just wants a decision.

“We know there is some sort of plan, but we haven’t been told anything official.

“They should get their finger out, because in a few weeks’ time where are people going to get their pension?”

It is thought staying in the WH Smith building, with the main part of the store closed, would be unfeasible because of the site’s layout.

If the Post Office does not stay in the town centre, residents will be forced to travel to the much smaller Mistry Newsagents, in Blackshots Lane, or others in Lodge Lane and London Road.

The next nearest post office is in Chadwell St Mary.

Customer John Broadhead, from Grays, said it would be a shame if the service was lost in the town.

He added: “It is no good if the nearest Post Office will be Tilbury or Chadwell. They really must give us another Post Office.”

A Post Office spokesman said: “We hope we will be able to continue to provide a service in the current site with a temporary sub-postmaster while a permanent solution is found.

“We would like to stay in the WH Smith building and we are working through how feasible that is. “Plan B is to find somewhere else in the shopping area.”