Weekly 'mobile Post Office' to visit villages starved of service, officials confirm

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https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news ... it-6808210

People in a Leicestershire village are to have access to postal services for the first time in seven months with the arrival of a weekly mobile Post Office. Barrow Upon Soar is to benefit from the new service, which covers a large number of rural communities across three neighbouring counties.

The mobile Post Office van is set to visit the village once a week from next month. The two-hour session will take place outside the Three Crowns pub, in Cotes Road on Thursdays. However, residents who are unhappy with the plans can post their feedback via a consultation between now and Thursday, April 14.

Without access to local bank branches too, smaller villages and towns have suffered the from the loss of their Post Office branches. Barrow is one of nine communities across Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire which will now receive the mobile service, while officials look for "more permanent solutions".

Residents of the village previously expressed anger over the lack of access to essential services, organising a petition to tackle the issue. Its Post Office closed in 2016 but that was replaced by a service within the Filling Station in North Street - however, that closed in August last year.

Many residents were driving to Quorn for banking and postal services but thanks to the Postmaster in Linton, in South Derbyshire this may no longer be the case. Its new service is set to visit Netherseal, Castle Gresley on Monday afternoons, Coleorton, Stanton Under Bardon, Ellistown, Appleby Magna on a Tuesday Harlaston, Coleorton, Barrow Upon Soar on Thursdays and Long Whatton on Fridays.

To accommodate the new services, changes will be made to the current hours to the Post Office vans at, Hulland Ward, Fillongley, Whitacre Heath, Sheepy Magna, Blackfordby, Kegworth, Branston, Hammerwich, and Whittington.

Due to low customer usage, the mobile services at Walton On Trent, Turnditch, Mapleton, Bitteswell, Acton Trussell, Abbots Bromley, and Denstone will no longer go ahead.

Anne Murphy, the Post Office's network provision lead, said: “We are delighted to be restoring Post Office service to nine new communities with the mobile service. These will be temporary services whilst we continue to look for permanent solutions.”

However, the temporary measure is not seen as enough in the long term, according to some Barrow residents. Posting on a village Facebook page, one said: "Not good enough, should go to every address to carry out their obligations. What about people who cannot get down? Disgusting stuff."

While another disagreed: "They still deliver. This is a post office. People would have had to walk to it anyway. It is better than what we have now."

The postal company is now inviting customers to provide comments on the new Mobile services via a online consultation, quoting the branch code 379207 and the branch name.