'Truly disgraceful and disrespectful': MLA's anger as Post Office axes counter in his shop - without telling him

A branch of Spar run by Ulster Unionist Alan Chambers has contained the Post Office’s only presence in Groomsport for many years, after the company got rid of its proper branch in the seaside village on the north coast of Co Down.

Now the counter is to go as well, the Post Office saying it’s for the chop in less than a fortnight as the postmistress of a branch in Portavogie, around 18 miles away, is retiring.

Making matters worse for the North Down MLA, he didn’t get any advance warning and wasn’t contacted directly, only finding out he was going to lose the counter in his shop when it was mentioned in the middle of a Post Office announcement their Portavogie branch would go when the postmistress leaves.

“The news that our office will be forced to close has come as a huge shock to my family and our staff,” he said.

“Given the loyal service we have given the Post Office, we have been hugely disappointed with the complete absence, to date, of any official notice or information regarding the proposed closure. I was made aware of a lengthy press statement issued by the Post Office that stated in one single line that, as a result of the Portavogie closure, the Groomsport office would close.

“This was truly a disgraceful and disrespectful way for us to learn that our Post Office would be closing. We have also not received any instructions as to what we need to do to affect the closure in terms of an exit strategy. The Post Office have obviously learnt nothing from the disgraceful way they treated loyal postmasters during the Horizon scandal.”

Mr Chambers told the News Letter he’s been trying to get hold of management officials to challenge the axe, arguing his staff are more than capable of running the counter, just as they have been for years – but so far he hasn’t had any luck, stating that officials are ignoring him.

“We will continue to try and reach out to Post Office management to confirm our willingness to continue to deliver much needed Post Office services in Groomsport,” he said.

“It is important to the residents of Groomsport that they don’t lose this important service. It will create problems for some local businesses that use our Post Office to use banking services after the closure of so many bank branches in recent years.

“Hopefully contact can be made by us with Post Office management, despite the fact that they are currently ignoring us, to attempt to reverse this decision or to at least suspend the closure to allow meaningful dialogue to commence.”

Mr Chambers stated that when the Post Office decided to axe its standalone branch in the village, residents campaigned for it to be saved. The upshot was installing a counter in his shop, run under the direction of Portavogie Post Office.

The UUP MLA added he paid for the counter himself, stating his family have run it “without a blemish” for years “never considered for one moment withdrawing the important services it provided to the village”.

A Post Office spokesman said the Portavogie postmistress is “also responsible for Groomsport branch” so they both have to close when she goes. He added officials will “carry out a review of provision” in Groomsport.

Said the spokesman: “The announcement about the planned closure of Portavogie Post Office has now generated interest from a retailer for that branch. We will look to see if we can restore service in the area.”