Injunction should be served on Post Office Ltd to stop closure of 'Mandy's Post Office'

I have been pressing Camden Council to step in and prevent the closure of Albany Street Post Office, also in today's Daily Mirror "Mandy Post Office Shuts."

Here's the letter I wrote to the Lib Dem/Tory leadership, normally very active on Post Office issues in the borough, to ask if our lawyers could step in to injuct the Post Office Ltd not to close until a suitable replacement was found or a compromise with King's Pharmacy struck.

Injunction against Post Office Ltd
I am writing to ask Camden Council to investigate serving an injunction against Post Office Ltd to prevent the closure of Albany Street Post Office Branch on 22nd May.

As you will know the Post Office Ltd are ending the contract with the sub postmaster in King’s Pharmacy (Albany Street Post Office). The closure will impact on the 2000, predominantly elderly, people who regularly use it many of whom are carers and elderly and the other 3-4000 people who live in the area. It will force people to use Great Portland Street Post Office (nearest tube, Oxford Circus) or Camden High Street. Both of these branches are already overcrowded. In the case of Camden Town, quite frankly, many elderly people on the Estate do not want to travel there for fear of crime – a sad state of affairs but a reflection on the continuing issues in the area.

It is worth stating at the outset that this is a separate case to the Post Office reorganisation which the council regularly deals with, so different actions are required from Camden Council.

The ostensible reason for this is that the Post Office and the sub postmaster have reached an impasse over opening on Saturday for just 4 hours. On account of the branch being located in a pharmacy, and the professional requirement that a pharmacist be at hand when the pharmacy is open, opening on a Saturday costs the branch an additional £12k a year for little business value.

In the eyes of the Post Office, not to open on Saturday voids the contract they had, given the need in the area, and therefore have ended it. The notice of the ending of the contract was only communicated on the 27 April, hence the need for the Council’s immediate action, which can be justified under your powers of well-being.

On the fact of it you might conclude that this is a straightforward contractual matter. However, on further investigation it appears that the Post Office had previously come to an arrangement to allowed Albany Street branch to open longer on weekdays, and not to open on Saturdays at all. This, I would argue, is a prima facie acceptance of different operational patterns and as such constitutes an agreement to vary the terms of their original contract. Proof of this previous agreement to vary hours can be found with the timing of the safe records held at the branch, copies of which the Post Office currently have but have seemingly “archived.”

The closure of Albany Street branch will put further pressure on Camden High Street, as I have noted, and also impact on the viability of the local parade and impact on businesses large and small. Concerns have been expressed to me by Camden Town Unlimited about overcrowding in Camden High Street branch, and large national organisations like Cancer UK, based around the corner, will be impacted.

The Post Office Ltd dub this a “temporary closure”, a term I am unfamiliar with in the absence of a replacement service. While they indicate they encourage alternative provision there is no guarantee or assurance this will happen. In short, there is no ‘Plan B.’ I request Camden to seek an injunction to ensure that the branch stays open until either such agreement between Albany Street branch and the Post office is found, or an alternative provider is secured to ensure that there is provision in an area which the Post Office itself recognises needs service.

At a public meeting called at short notice yesterday at Dick Collins Hall not one of the 60 or so people there wanted no service at all instead of a limited service (i.e. no Saturdays). Unlike Belsize Park I’m afraid we don’t have fleets of local celebrities to employ to our defence; but the reasoning here is solid and the ‘ask’ on the council a limited one.

Suspension of the proposed closure will be of significant public benefit to Regent’s Park and Camden Town. I recognise that the Leader and Deputy Leader will have a meeting with the Post Office on 26th, but this will be too late for the local community – swift steps are needed to prevent closure or reach a stay of execution for the area.

An excellent meeting at Dick Collins Hall on Tuesday night – over 70 local people attended, along with new Labour Leader Nash Ali, myself, Tulip Siddiq and Vimal Shah from King’s Pharmacy and his colleagues.

Local people spoke movingly about how important the connection was between the Post Office and the Pharmacy, perhaps more so than in other areas. For many of the estate’s ‘old guard’, people in their late sixties some of whom are caring for their parents a trip across the road to pick up the pension is something you can do in 10 minutes, not the hour it will take to negotiate Camden Town or Oxford Circus.

I hope the Council will act today, and the Post Office powers-that-be will see some sense.