Biggar: Reported plan to move sorting office to Lanark

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/23 ... ce-lanark/

A REPORTED plan by Royal Mail to move its Biggar sorting office to Lanark was given a stamp of disapproval at a meeting on Monday evening.


Upper Tweed Community Council (UTCC) vowed to launch a protest after members said they were told about the proposals by their local posties.

UTCC secretary Stephanie Jackman said: “Moving the sorting office to Lanark will be a disaster for the area.

“Imagine if you have to go to the sorting office to pick-up a parcel ”

Ms Jackman, a retired colonel who was made a Member of the British Empire in 2017 for her work with the Army Reserve, added: “We need to make a big noise about this and I am happy to lead a protest but I don’t want to get arrested.”

Tweeddale MP David Mundell said he was also “very concerned” about the reported proposal.

He said: “The office is the hub for mail deliveries across a vast rural area from Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders to Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway and much of rural Clydesdale between.

“The existing postal delivery arrangements have worked well serving this large geography and the postmen and women, based in Biggar, are very familiar with area.

“I believe a move of the sorting office to Lanark could be detrimental to that service, which is so vital to people who are living remotely and have asked Royal Mail to reconsider it.”

So far, Royal Mail, which was privatised in October 2015 and is an entirely separate business from The Post Office, has not made any public announcements about the move, which apparently is designed to create a bigger hub.

People in Biggar and Broughton say they have heard about it from their posties when they are delivering letters.

UTCC member, Susan Brown said her postie told her about the proposals two weeks ago.

The plan is also causing consternation in Biggar.

UTCC chairman Andrew Beveridge said: “We need to send a letter objecting to the Royal Mail.


“We are already quite late in the day receiving our mail.

“We are in the Scottish Borders with an ML12 postcode.”

Mr Beveridge added that if the move takes place, people in Broughton should request their mail to come from Peebles sorting office which is closer.

At Monday’s meeting, Tweeddale West councillor Viv Thomson said: “I have raised the issue with South Lanarkshire Council and at Scottish Borders Council.”

This newspaper contacted Royal Mail for comment, but it had not responded at the time of going to press.

[mwalker88]

The simple fact of the matter is, RM don't give a flying f*ck about their staff, or the final mile of anything within the system.

They don't make money on a spreadsheet/box ticking sheet by actually delivering anything. They make money by moving stuff through the network.

The business model is doomed to fail and they know it.