Error means that Post Office consultation period must be halted says John Leech MP

3.45.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 24th Jun 2008

John Leech MP, Liberal Democrat MP for Manchester Withington is calling for the public consultation period on post office closures to be immediately halted after uncovering a shocking flaw in the system, which may mean that hundreds of local voices have not been heard.

In a cruel twist, which exacerbates tensions even further, the Freepost address to which members of the public have been writing to express their opposition to the planned closures of Parrs Wood Post Office and Lapwing Lane Post Office does not include a postcode. Concerned Royal Mail staff have alerted Mr Leech to the fact that this means that in some sorting offices, letters sent to this address could go undelivered, being deposited in so-called 'blind boxes' alongside other incorrectly addressed correspondence. Consequently, the appeals of local residents could go unheard by the consultation panel.

John Leech MP has also launched a 'Save our Post Offices' campaign in a bid to fight the Government's closures

John Leech MP has therefore contacted the consultation team to alert them to this problem and is demanding that they halt the consultation period until the problem has been rectified, people have been made aware of the problem and guarantees have been made that staff at all sorting offices know where the letters need to go. Mr Leech also plans to raise the matter in parliament today when a debate on post office closures takes place.

Speaking about this latest debacle, John Leech MP said, 'it is appalling that this sort of fundamental error has occurred at this critical time in the process. Local people are already angry about the Government's planned closures and this serves only to make things worse. The consultation period must be put on hold until the problem has been fixed and people are aware of what's been happening so that they can have their voices heard.'

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