(5 years, 11 months ago)
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We have many franchised post offices in York that are successful; but in the instance I am discussing, it is a poor decision.
As to access for Royal Mail, and for moving cash in and out of the post office, it has been suggested that a back alley can be used. There have been health and safety assessments of that process and it has been deemed unsafe, so that is a concern. Many York businesses bank at the post office and many business people say they are not willing to walk through a shop and join a queue to bank there. Therefore the move will pull business away from the post office.
The hon. Lady and I have both spoken at the all-party parliamentary group on post offices, and we are both aware of the paltry amounts that sub-postmasters are being paid, in particular to deal with banking transactions. Although Post Office Ltd is making huge profits, it is not passing them on to the people in the franchised sub-post offices that rely on that kind of work.