A new fleet 40 new Mercedes Sprinter vans have been converted into walk-in post offices on wheels, complete with an accessibility lift, with the aim of providing a modern, reliable service for customers in more isolated areas.
They will be run by subpostmasters and offer letter and parcel postage and personal banking services like cash withdrawal, savings and insurance services to isolated communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are replacing the current fleet of converted LDV vans.
19 of the new vans have already been rolled out across 14 regions, including Stirling, Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands in Scotland, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Cumbria, Worcestershire, South Devon and Suffolk in England, and Herefordshire and Caredigion in Wales.
Kevin Gilliland, Post Office Network Director, said the new vehicles were part of the company’s bid to make its services more convenient and accessible. “Post Office is modernising to meet customers’ needs. We are investing in services across our network to make it easier for customers, whether that means they are served via one of our new vehicles in more isolated areas or at a modernised high street branch”.
The Post Office is currently implementing a multi-million pound investment programme across its network. Nearly 2,500 branches across the UK have already been modernised under this programme, providing well over 60,000 extra opening hours in total as well as service in more modern retail environments.
One Response
We should welcome this sign of further commitment to the Rural Areas. These are very valuable resources but there are still far too many communities where such facilities as Sub Post Offices have been closed.
As an example the village where I live and work lost its Post Office years ago. Now every time I want to go to the Post Office the nearest is about 3 miles away although the one I use is slightly further at about 4 miles away.
But there are many Urban areas as well where there have been closures of Sub Post Offices over the years. The only way that this can be corrected is for the Post Office to actively promote New Sub Post Offices in those many areas where Post Offices have been lost over the years, such as in my Village.
Of course there is one way that ebay sellers can show the Post Office just how important the Sub Post Offices are to the community and that is to use them whenever and where ever possible. After all they have many advantages over the Crown Post Offices..you can usually park for example and the service is usually very much friendlier. So look at your surrounding areas and use your local Sub Post Office and help to convince the Post Office that a strong Sub Post Office Network is vital.