Anger over long queues to use post office van (From Gazette & Herald)

Anger over long queues to use post office van

11:20am Wednesday 31st December 2008 in News

PENSIONERS are being forced to queue outside in the cold for hours to get their pension.

Ever since the post office in Slingsby shut last spring, a mobile post office van has been sent to the village every Monday Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which gives residents a chance to collect their pension and post mail.

Kathleen Lange, who is retired and lives in Slingsby, said: “People come and queue outside our house.

“If it’s raining or snowing they still have to stand outside.

“Once or twice I’ve seen someone coming from the top of the village and queuing up only to be told they can’t get their pension because it is the wrong time.

“Standing outside could be a health hazard, if you are poorly already, or if you’ve got the flu.

“I also don’t think the Post Office can be saving a great deal of money with the mobile van, because they’ve got to employ somebody to drive it around, while we have a very nice village shop in Slingsby, which used to be a Post Office and still has all the facilities.”

Carol Tompkins, who owns the Grapes Inn, opposite where the Post Office van parks, said: “I’ve seen them queuing on a few occasions.

“The queue lasted for an hour-and-a-half last Monday.

“I was wanting to go to the Post Office van myself but I gave up.

“Some of the elderly people are on sticks, and it’s not very good for them to have to stand in the cold and the damp, unsure of their footing, for that amount of time.”

The Gazette & Herald contacted the Post Office to see if they would consider making other arrangements for pensioners when the weather is bad.

A spokesman said: “Although all post offices tend to be busier in the run up to Christmas, neither we nor the sub-postmaster of the Slingsby mobile post office are aware of long queuing times for the service.

“However, if we are given specific dates and times of the alleged incidents, we would be happy to investigate.

“There is space in the mobile Post Office for around five customers to wait to be served, and it is rare that the queue at Slingsby is much longer than this.”