The last post

SAD day . . . Devy Patel (right) who will lose her job and customer Eunice Musikavanhu

CUSTOMERS will be forced to travel at least another mile for over-the-counter services when the axe falls on six Oldham post offices next month.

Post Office Ltd confirmed yesterday that all six will close, by September 24 or earlier. All are in east Oldham.

And the axe means that four local businesses will close completely — Greenacres Moor in Huddersfield Road; Grasscroft; Egerton Street and Scouthead.

Both family-run shops at Buckstones Road and Lower Rushcroft in Shaw will stay open when the post offices close.

In the Greater Manchester and High Peak area, 62 branches will close, but Post Office Ltd says that 99.2 per cent of people will see no change or remain within a mile of another branch.

All Oldham’s postmasters and mistresses forced to close are worried about the effects on their older customers.

At Greenacres Moor, postmistress Devy Patel (40) already plans to introduce her pensioners to Waterhead post office.

She said: “A few of our older ladies are absolutely dismayed and angry. There is no way they can walk any further or stand in a queue at Oldham post office for an hour.”

Both Devy and her husband Maresh, who have been at Greenacres Moor for almost eight years, will lose their jobs when the business closes.

Dave McLean (60), at Lower Rushcroft post office, was upset that posters arrived in the mail yesterday announcing the closure on September 24.

He said: “What cuts is that they came with instructions to put them up immediately.

“People have no idea how much that extra mile to another post office will mean to our elderly ladies.”

But Geoff Barker, who has been postmaster at Grasscroft for 17 years, said he was relieved: “I will be glad to get out. So much work has been taken off us — pensions, TV licences, family allowances — that this was only a matter of time.”

Scouthead post office will close completely on September 10, but Keith Allen at Buckstones Road will keep his family business open when the post office closes.

He said: “I am not surprised but very sad.”

Jill Minnock said the Egerton Street post office in Brackley Square will close on September 23.

She added: “It is very sad. I have been here for 12 years and it is well used.”