Forum Topic

Chiswick Post office -  full text of the petition is on change.org 

please also pass it on to others - thank youwww.change.org/p/reopen-chiswick-post-office-without-delay?

Katja Urban ● 15d28 Comments

Post Office Ltd seems to have washed its hands of its, er, post offices, phasing out its few remaining Crown offices and apparently having no effective mechanism for keeping their franchised offices open if they hit a problem.  In the old days, I assume staff would be moved from place to place to keep things going, but no more. So despite the Post Office making £22m profit in 2024, half of its sub post offices don't break even.Isn't the privatisation of our vital services wonderful?!

Peter Evans ● 20h

Or it could be that Post Office Ltd was working hard behind the scenes to try and make the branch work for the franchisee and that it was trying to explore every option before finally admitting defeat.Whatever the case, I'd be interested to hear how people think the Chiswick branch might be saved. An experienced and previously successful sub postmaster couldn't make a go of it, and even if someone was willing to take it on, the building is going to be demolished in the next few years with no space set aside for a Post Office. If turning it into a Crown Post Office was an option, then that would have been announced rather than closure.I don't want to be a doommonger but I just can't see a scenario in which this branch ever reopens. Would be delighted to be proved wrong.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 20h

From the front page story, it looks as if the Post Office closure is now a very badly handled and deceitful done deal, with the pretence of four weeks ‘consultation’ well after the closure in fact took place!  You’d expect some alternative to be on the cards before the closure.  Let’s hope our justifiably furious local politicians can get something done, particularly our MPs, and I look forward to some angry ‘questions in the House’.

Peter Evans ● 1d

Monzo advises that all PayPoint convenience stores are available to their customers for paying-in cash, so it seems possible that this also  extends to customers of other banks.Via the link posted earlier, you can verify the services available at each PayPoint location.

Charles Vessey ● 5d

I'm finding this discussion very useful and informative.Can anyone expand on the availability of banking services at convenience stores?Also for package posting, is there any difference in prices at Mailboxes etc?

Diane Brown ● 5d

Yeah, convenience stores with a PayPoint facility are able to do bill payments. Quite a few of them also have banking facilities.https://www.paypoint.com/store-locator

Charles Vessey ● 6d

I was unaware convenience stores handled bill payments - useful info.This call today for a rescue package suggests that we are in the worst case scenario. The Post Office does seem to have funds to provide support to subpostmasters but these seem to be targeted at rural areas. The councillor's call for rental holidays and reductions presumes that the Chiswick Post Office's landlord is the Post Office but I think it may be the Royal Mail who wouldn't have a fiduciary responsibility to subsidise a post office.It is possible that the Chiswick Post Office is now a zombie branch and is permanently 'temporarily closed'. This avoids the need for a public consultation on closure and keeps the Post Office within its public service obligations to have a branch reachable by a certain level of population. A branch in Helmsley, North Yorkshire was 'temporarily' closed for over two years.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 6d

I think a lot of the main player courier services do tracked and/or signed-for deliveries at competitive prices (including collections from premises, otherwise drop-off at most convenience stores). Is there a work-around for people who don't have internet access? (I can think of one big-name parcel delivery expert with a shop on the High Road - probably not quite doing celebratory dances at the Old Packhorse disco just yet).That said it's probably fair to suppose that - for many people - the Post Office has historically been a favoured courier, possibly at least partially due to being state-owned.Whilst utility bills can be paid at many convenience stores (certainly plenty in Chiswick); are there any/many other bills that people tend to pay at the Post Office that are not covered by convenience stores?(Probably a similar issue in that people may have a preference for the Post Office - although, if many of the branches are now franchises and not forgetting the recent publicity, do people expect that is likely to continue?).I think Acton and Brentford post offices offer banking services although, for many of the elderly and vulnerable, the additional transport costs quite often do add up fairly quickly.

Charles Vessey ● 6d

Where would you now send a letter by 'registered post' containing original documents.

Janice Evans ● 6d

I'd hazard a guess that the biggest hole left by the departure of the Post Office would be bill paying and banking for those that don't do this via the internet. The only alternative provider would be banks and they are long gone.Chiswick appears to be about to be hit by the perfect storm of being a banking desert without a post office. This is a disaster for many of the elderly and most vulnerable in our community.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 6d

Possibly answering my own question a little:https://postofficeimpact.publicfirst.co.uk/

Charles Vessey ● 7d

*could be

Charles Vessey ● 7d

Without particularly wishing to ask on behalf of opportunistic local entrepreneurs, which essential services of the Post Office are people mostly concerned about?Document verification is one that I'm able to think of, although personally (up to now) I think I've only had a need to use that service once. Stamps, parcel services, cash withdrawal and currency exchange are available at many alternative outlets.Would you suppose many of the services be integrated with local library services?

Charles Vessey ● 7d

You would have thought that would be the case but the Post Office hasn't opened a Crown Post Office (one that is directly staffed not franchised) since before 2010. A closure in Chiswick may challenge this policy given the seemingly unprecedented scale of the population that won't have a post office and the unusual situation of it being based in a building that probably won't be there for long. This scenario was always going to happen and the fallback was probably opening in WH Smith. The new owners of what will be TG Jones have said they will continue with existing post office counters but haven't mentioned opening new ones.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 7d

Looking into this, although the Post Office is ‘state owned’, from this April they seem to be moving to a fully franchised operation, which some say looks like privatisation by the back door.  And this model isn’t helped by their favourite franchisee, WH Smith’s, pulling out of the high street. But even with a franchise scheme, you’d expect there to be some fallback scheme to keep failing franchises open to the public.

Peter Evans ● 8d

If, as it appears, the business is privately owned it's hard to see how the Post Office can force them to re-open? They'd actually have to find other premises and staff it.  I recently had to post a package and had the misfortune to go the Isleworth office which is truly appalling, rude staff, slow service, in fact no service at all for some customers who they refused to serve.  Sadly the Brentford office doesn't provide all services and I've no idea where the next nearest large branch would be.

CE Combes ● 8d

I’d no idea this was actually a sub-post office managed by what could be a small private company. If they’ve got into difficulties, you’d think the Post Office would be able to take the place over to maintain such a vital local service.

Peter Evans ● 8d

The article in today's newsletter was a worthy attempt to throw a bit of light on the subject but we still don't really know what is going on other than the chances of reopening are diminishing.I don't know if this would make Chiswick the largest town without a post office but even so its departure wouldn't just be a local issue - it would be a national scandal so the Post Office has to consider action including making the branch a Crown Post Office.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 8d

One again, thanks for clarifying.It is hard to conclude anything other than that there is a dispute between the sub postmaster and Post Office Ltd. That raises the possibility that the latter isn't giving a date for reopening because they don't know and don't want to say more for legal reasons although that doesn't justify not at least making some sort of holding statement. The sub postmaster would seem to have all the cards here because, if he doesn't get what he wants, the Post Office will never get anyone else to take on the branch because of its short shelf life. A permanent closure seems more likely by the day.

Mark Evans ● 10d

You are right, Mark. The community is in the dark about what exactly is going on which is why one of the calls to action in the petition is for Post Office Ltd to "Provide clear and transparent communication to residents and customers". That includes telling the community when the post office will re-open for business which is what everyone wants to know because of the huge inconvenience caused by the closure.Jo Biddolph (unbashed ... on this occasion)

Joanna Biddolph ● 11d

Thank you for the explanation about the use of data - that is reassuring. The issue remains that the community remains in the dark about exactly what is going on here.

Mark Evans ● 11d

When Chiswick lost three banks at least they gave the public clear and adequate notices.The suddenness and total lack of any explanation given to the ongoing closure of the P.O. is staggering.This is behaviour that might be expected from some "here today gone tomorrow pop shop.We have Cllr Biddolph to thank for getting involved.

Denis I. Fox ● 12d

Just to clarify for anyone concerned:Yes, this petition was launched by local Conservative councillors, but it’s not political. It’s about a local issue that affects everyone, and there’s no party messaging involved.As with any Change.org petition, if you sign just our name, city, and date of signing are shared with the organiser - that's me. It’s will not shared with any political party or used for campaigning.Thanks to everyone who’s signed so far – let’s keep the focus on getting results for the community.

Peter Thompson ● 12d

You’d expect the Post Office to at least give a proper explanation to local politicians as to why this important branch is closed and for how long. One can’t help but be suspicious and distrustful after the Post Office's recent behaviour.

Peter Evans ● 12d

I don't want to be seen as joining the gang of Biddolph Bashers but this petition seems likely to achieve little but harvest more data for the local Conservatives. It is framed in a way that makes the Post Office appear to be the villain in this episode, which is perfectly credible to anyone familiar with the Horizon scandal, but quite why they are is not explained in the petition.

Mark Evans ● 12d

Well done to Cllr Biddolph for taking the Lead on this while Labour seem to have  sat on their bums unperturbed about the effects this may have on some people.

Steve Taylor ● 13d

The petition seems to assume that the closure is Post Office Ltd's fault but there is no explanation. Obviously the branch needs to open urgently but it is hard to fix on a solution when the source of the problem remains unclear.

Diane Brown ● 13d

https://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=postalservices015.htm  and here's the link to the article on the front page

Philippa Bond ● 13d