Tuesday, September 05, 2006

800 call for Post Office action in Winlaton and High Spen

LIBERAL Democrat councillors in Winlaton and High Spen ward of Gateshead have collected 800 signatures on their petition calling for the Post Office Card Account and Post Office branches to be saved from the axe.

Councillors Brenda Osborne and Andrew Graham collected the signatures during August.

They launched the petition with colleagues from across Gateshead after the government announced that the Post Office Card Account is to be scrapped. The account is used by 5 million pensioners to collect their state pensions through Post Office branches.

Many branches are dependent on the payment they receive for handling pensioners’ cash and the business they bring to remain open. There are fears that many will close as a result.

“There has been a great deal of interest in the petition from residents,” said Brenda. “People have been very willing to sign. We have recorded 800 signatures so far but we also have a large pile of petition replies which we have not yet sorted.

“So we are expecting the figure of 800 to increase further.”

No comments: