Village postmasters vow to carry on despite robberies (From Gazette & Herald)

Village postmasters vow to carry on despite robberies

VILLAGE postmasters across North Yorkshire have vowed to stay at their jobs - despite fears they could be the next target for a gang of robbers.

Since Helmsley Post Office was raided by masked men armed with chainsaws a week ago, three nearby villages have lost their community office.

Hovingham, Nawton and Brandsby sub-postmasters all said they felt support from Post Office Limited had been so scarce, they were no longer prepared to carry on.

Sue Miles, from Cawood Post Office, near Selby, had a near-miss when a gang of youths at her premises were interrupted by customers in the shop - the gang later targeted a post office in Tadcaster, she said.

But the Post Office did not want to know about her experience, Mrs Miles said.

"I rang the post office but they never even rang back or contacted me, even though the police had been round."

Mrs Miles said she had taken the job almost two years ago to prevent the village losing such a vital service.

And she said she did not intend to resign in the near future.

Strensall postmaster Richard Horseman said: "I would totally agree with the people who have resigned.

"Until the Post Office realise that they are underpaying their postmasters, they are going to lose them.

"I have been a postmaster for 15 years and this is the worst I have seen it."

But a spokesman for the Post Office said it did keep in close contact with the sub postmasters.

"In response to what's happened in the past few days, security managers have been visiting a number of branches across North Yorkshire to remind sub postmasters of the security procedures they should be following," he said.

"They will hopefully reassure sub postmasters that we do take security seriously."

He added: "There's an onus on Post Office Limited and we do our best - there's also an onus on the sub postmasters."

Updated: 16:10 Wednesday, January 22, 2003