Card account axe could close more post offices

CAMPAIGNERS (from left) Councillor John Dillon, Elwyn Watkins, Councillor Ann Wingate and Councillor Philomena Dillon outside the axed Lower Rushcroft post office

AS many as 10 more Oldham post offices could be forced to close.

That’s the view of Elwyn Watkins, the prospective parliamentary candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

The stark prediction follows news that the Government is to scrap the Post Office card account.

The closures would come on top of the six post offices already axed in Oldham this autumn — with up to 3,000 post offices across the country at risk.

Mr Watkins said: “Plans to phase out the card account are bad news for customers and the community. At a time when trust in banks is at an all-time low, it is perverse to force post office card users who have all made a conscious decision to stick with the account, out into the commercial world. The most vulnerable people will be the ones who suffer the most.

“And as post offices are forced to provide less and less for fewer and fewer, it gives the Government an excuse to close even more in the future.”

Mr Watkins is calling on local Labour MP Phil Woolas to act to save local post offices.