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More post offices face the axe
MORE post offices face the axe in West Yorkshire if the Royal Mail loses a £200million Government contract.
It is feared more branches will close if the Post Office Card Account (POCA) – which processes millions of pension and benefit payments – is awarded to a rival bidder.
Concerns are mounting that the contract – a major source of income for most branches – will be handed to PayPoint, which operates out of corner shops, off-licences and garage forecourts. An announcement had been expected by the Government in the summer but has been repeatedly delayed.
Lindsay Hoyle MP, a member of the Commons business and enterprise select committee, fears a decision has already been taken to strip the Royal Mail of its POCA contract.
Plea
Asked what the impact of handing the entire POCA contract to PayPoint would be, he added: "80 per cent of Post Office counters would close."
He stressed that the post office shops may survive, but that the core postal counter services would die out in the majority of branches.
Khalid Hameed, who runs the Elland Road post office in Leeds, which recently re-opened after an 18-month temporary closure, fears that if the contract is opened up to rival bidders, it could sink his business forever.
Mr Hameed said: "Pensioners are my main customers, I have 250-300 of them regularly coming here.
"On a daily basis I see 100-150 people using the card account.
"My total business depends on them – if the Post Office loses the contract, it could close my business.
"I would urge the Government to keep the card account contract with the Post Office and I urge customers to please come forward and use your post office branches."
It follows a warning from the National Federation of SubPostmasters that only 9,000 post offices would soon be left out of a network of 17,000 just a few years ago.
Federation general secretary George Thomson said: "The consequences for the Government of not awarding this contract to the Post Office will be dramatic. At least 3,000 offices will close in about 14 or 15 months, on top of the 5,000 that the Government has closed in the past five years.
The Department of Work and Pensions said: "The contracting process is still ongoing and no decision has been made."
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "POCA is out to tender at present so it would be inappropriate for us to comment as we are awaiting an announcement from Government."
The Royal Mail is already axing 63 branches in West Yorkshire. They included ones in Pontefrcat and Wakefield which were closed earlier this year.
And branches at Purston Lane in Featherstone, Pontefract Road in Ackworth and Common End and Badsworth in Pontefract are on the latest list announced by Posyt Office bosse of branches they are looking to axe.
Thousands of customers signed petitions which were presented when public consultation ended in a failed bid to keep the branches open.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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