The Post Office has taken great exception to my story in the last issue (Post-it note: unfair) over Harjit Singh’s allegation that he was unfairly overlooked in the PO’s selection process to relocate a local branch to a better location. A newish Co-op was selected instead of Harjit’s store.
In defending its decision, the Post Office says: “We are sorry that Mr Singh is disappointed, but we often have more than one expression of interest in Post Office vacancies and have to make decisions based on what is best for our customers.
“The Mid Counties Co-operative Store is significantly closer to the current branch in Spring Road, with plenty of parking, including dedicated disabled parking bays and access via a wide automatic door.”
Harjit does not dispute the store details, but claims a better location with better parking, higher footfall and transactions, with disabled parking bays, are part of his planned expansion. He also feels he had been given every encouragement by the Post Office only to have his bid overlooked, and has written a detailed letter of complaint.
The Post Office adds: “Changes to the Post Office network are managed under our Code of Practice as agreed with our watchdog Consumer Futures, with a public consultation designed to get feedback on how suitable the location is, the accessibility of the premises and to receive suggestions on how we can make the branch better - the public consultation ran from 6 December to 27 January 2014 and we hope to announce a decision in the near future.”
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