'At Risk' Post Offices unveiled by Liberal Democrats

12.00.00am GMT Wed 22nd Jan 2003

The first local post offices facing the axe under the new Post Office closure program, quietly underway since November, can now be revealed thanks to pressure from the Liberal Democrats.

The Post Office wishes to shut 3,000 sites in he UK and 30 local post offices a week are being added to the 'at risk' list. The Post Office has promised to provide the Liberal Democrats with regularly updated lists of the closure program.

These 'at risk' branches are the subject of consultation with local MPs and councillors. This first batch of closures will be the easiest the Post Office is undertaking as they are all in urban areas served by other local Post Offices.

John Thurso MP, Shadow Scottish Secretary, said:

"It is imperative that Parliament is able to hold the Post Office to account for its closure program. This list of the branches 'at risk' across the UK and across Scotland has been kept secret until now.

"Post Offices are often the backbone of local communities. If the closure program is not transparent and sensitive to people's concerns, then the Post Office will face strong public resistance.

"We must keep a critical eye on how the closure program as a whole is proceeding. The Post Office deserves credit for coming clean about the first closures and promising to keep the public updated.

"Of course we understand that it will always be the case where some Post Offices will have to close, but at very least the timing of this has been a mistake in the midst of the impending impact of benefit and pensions payments being taken away from the Post Office counters."