Fury at mass post office closures

Protests have been launched to save post offices across the Black Country from the axe amid complaints that pensioners are being treated "appallingly".

Thirty-one post offices in the Black Country and Kidderminster have been earmarked for closure in the latest Government-directed cull of the service.

In Wolverhampton, where five branches are set to close, council chiefs slammed the move and said they were furious they had not been consulted over the decision.

Councillor Paddy Bradley, cabinet member for regeneration in Wolverhampton, said: "I just wish the council could have had a say over all of this, because we know more than the Government does exactly what these post offices mean to people.

"I think it's a terrible shame and the elderly, in particular, are being treated appallingly by all of this. They have really gone to town on Wolverhampton, because to face five post offices closing in one go is a big blow.

"A lot of people need the post office and it provides a lifeline for them. The Government wants us to use local shops more and avoid taking the car, but how this will help I don't know.

"When a post office closes people start using the nearby shops less too. It is a service that some people desperately need, and this city will be poorer without them.

"The council has had no say whatsoever in all of this. We are the local authority and know exactly how bad this will be. It is awful for everyone." Branches for the chop in the city include Upper Penn, off Penn Road and Villiers Avenue in Bilston as well as those in Newhampton Road West, Prestwood Road, and Portobello in Willenhall Road.

Nine post offices have been earmarked for closure in Dudley, eight in Sandwell, five in Walsall and four in Kidderminster.

Residents in Dudley and Stourbridge, backed by councillors and MPs, are already drawing up battle lines in the fight to keep their under-threat branches open.

Stourbridge Conservatives have launched a major campaign to keep Pedmore, Oldswinford and Quarry Bank post offices open. Parliamentary candidate for Stourbridge Margot James said: "These closures would be a hammer blow to community life here in Stourbridge and so the Government should think again. These communities could lose their local shop and vulnerable people will lose a service they depend on.

"There is massive opposition in Stourbridge to these proposals. If the Government is serious about listening to people as part of their consultation, it will be impossible to close our post offices."

Great Bridge pensioner Fred Perry, aged 82, said he thought the closures would leave people in Sandwell vulnerable.

"Pensioners will have to walk further and wait longer," he said. "Already they are queuing from about 9am."

The Post Office has pledged to consult on the closures over the next six weeks.