John Leech MP

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 signs the 'Save our Post Offices' petition

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.'

<ENDS>

Bookmark this story at: del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg FacebookFacebook LibDigLibDig redditreddit StumbleUponStumbleUpon
Print this news story.
Comment on this news story.
Previous news story: John Leech MP doesn't make a mountain out of a molehill about sunburn threat (Wed 18th Jun 2008).
Next news story: Local Restaurant "curries favour" with John Leech MP (Mon 30th Jun 2008).

Related News Stories:

Fri 11th Dec 2009:

Tue 8th Dec 2009:

Tue 6th Oct 2009:

Tue 25th Aug 2009:

Mon 27th Jul 2009:

Wed 8th Jul 2009:

Thu 30th Apr 2009:

Tue 28th Apr 2009:

Tue 21st Apr 2009:

Mon 20th Apr 2009:

Mon 23rd Mar 2009:

Tue 10th Mar 2009:

Thu 12th Feb 2009:

Wed 19th Nov 2008:

Tue 11th Nov 2008:

Tue 4th Nov 2008:

Mon 13th Oct 2008:

Fri 29th Aug 2008:

Wed 20th Aug 2008:

Fri 15th Aug 2008:

Wed 13th Aug 2008:

Thu 7th Aug 2008:

Tue 5th Aug 2008:

Wed 23rd Jul 2008:

Tue 22nd Jul 2008:

Wed 16th Jul 2008:

Tue 15th Jul 2008:

Fri 11th Jul 2008:

Mon 7th Jul 2008:

Sat 5th Jul 2008:

Wed 2nd Jul 2008:

Tue 1st Jul 2008:

Mon 30th Jun 2008:

Fri 20th Jun 2008:

Thu 19th Jun 2008:

Wed 18th Jun 2008:

Tue 10th Jun 2008:

Mon 9th Jun 2008:

Thu 5th Jun 2008:

Wed 4th Jun 2008:

Fri 23rd May 2008:

Thu 22nd May 2008:

Wed 21st May 2008:

Mon 19th May 2008:

Wed 14th May 2008:

Thu 8th May 2008:

Fri 25th Apr 2008:

Fri 21st Mar 2008:

Sat 15th Mar 2008:

Wed 12th Mar 2008:

Tue 12th Feb 2008:

Fri 8th Feb 2008:

Thu 7th Feb 2008:

Mon 4th Feb 2008:

Fri 1st Feb 2008:

Wed 16th Jan 2008:

Wed 19th Dec 2007:

Fri 30th Nov 2007:

Tue 27th Nov 2007:

Sat 24th Nov 2007:

Wed 21st Nov 2007:

Fri 16th Nov 2007:

Tue 13th Nov 2007:

Mon 12th Nov 2007:

Thu 8th Nov 2007:

Tue 6th Nov 2007:

Mon 5th Nov 2007:

Tue 30th Oct 2007:

Mon 29th Oct 2007:

Fri 26th Oct 2007:

Thu 18th Oct 2007:

Thu 27th Sep 2007:

Thu 13th Sep 2007:

Wed 5th Sep 2007:

Fri 17th Aug 2007:

Tue 7th Aug 2007:

Mon 6th Aug 2007:

Thu 2nd Aug 2007:

Tue 31st Jul 2007:

Mon 30th Jul 2007:

Thu 26th Jul 2007:

Mon 16th Jul 2007:

Mon 9th Jul 2007:

Wed 4th Jul 2007:

Mon 2nd Jul 2007:

Fri 29th Jun 2007:

Wed 27th Jun 2007:

Tue 26th Jun 2007:

Wed 30th May 2007:

Fri 25th May 2007:

Thu 24th May 2007:

Wed 23rd May 2007:

Thu 17th May 2007:

Thu 26th Apr 2007:

Thu 5th Apr 2007:

Thu 29th Mar 2007:

Wed 28th Mar 2007:

Mon 19th Mar 2007:

Wed 14th Mar 2007:

Thu 8th Mar 2007:

Tue 6th Mar 2007:

Tue 27th Feb 2007:

Thu 15th Feb 2007:

Fri 26th Jan 2007:

Sat 20th Jan 2007:

Tue 16th Jan 2007:

Mon 15th Jan 2007:

Sun 7th Jan 2007:

Mon 18th Dec 2006:

Fri 8th Dec 2006:

Thu 7th Dec 2006:

Thu 30th Nov 2006:

Wed 22nd Nov 2006:

Wed 8th Nov 2006:

Tue 7th Nov 2006:

Tue 8th Aug 2006:

Mon 31st Jul 2006:

Thu 27th Jul 2006:

Thu 20th Jul 2006:

Thu 13th Jul 2006:

Thu 6th Jul 2006:

Mon 3rd Jul 2006:

Fri 30th Jun 2006:

Wed 28th Jun 2006:

Tue 27th Jun 2006:

Mon 26th Jun 2006:

Thu 22nd Jun 2006:

Tue 11th Apr 2006:

Wed 21st Sep 2005:

Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY.
Published and promoted by B. Jones on behalf of John Leech, Bill Fisher, Andrew Taylor, Mark Clayton, Victor Chamberlain, Rob Mackle, Simon Wheale and Norman Lewis (Liberal Democrats), all at 8 Gawsworth Avenue, Manchester, M20 5NF. Tel (0161) 434 3334.
The views expressed are those of John Leech MP, not of the service provider.