Gloucestershire Post Offices six months on

POST Office users and managers have given a mixed response to the company's shake-up in Gloucestershire which took place six months ago.

Thirty-eight county post offices were shut in plans confirmed in May, with 13 replaced by "outreach services".

While some customers say services have improved, others have been forced to travel miles to post parcels and letters.

In Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds, branches in Woodmancote, Mitton, Witcombe, Twigworth, Cirencester's Meysey Hampton, Stratton and Beeches branches and Weston Subedge near Chipping Campden were all closed.

Outreach mobile services replaced offices in Longborough, Guiting Power, Temple Guiting, Sherborne, Colesbourne, Rendcomb, Twyning, Stanway and Aldsworth. Blockley now houses an outreach service in its village shop.

In Cheltenham, the sub-post office at Londis in Hewlett Road shut, while Post Office Ltd abandoned plans to reopen its Coronation Square outlet, which had been shut since June 2007.

Chris Lammiman, 77, of All Saints' Road, Cheltenham, used to use the office in Londis.

He said: "It's definitely had a bad effect on my wife, Helen, and I.

"She can't walk very far now, which means that we have to plan visits in advance, especially if we want to post packages to our children and grandchildren.

"We tried going into Cheltenham town centre but the parking was impossible and too expensive, so now we travel to Bishop's Cleeve instead. The situation is only going to get worse with Christmas coming."

At Bishop's Cleeve Post Office, sub-postmistress Jenny Didcote confirmed business had increased and that some days her staff were pushed to the limit.

She said: "There's definitely been an increase since the office in Woodmancote closed. We see a lot more people from Cheltenham coming in. On pension day we have people queuing out the door."

In Cheltenham town centre, the main post office in the lower High Street was shut to make way for a new branch in WHSmith.

In the 19-people queue at noon on Wednesday, opinion was divided on the service.

Sunbeam Duckett, 84, said: "My friend has been queuing an hour to post two airmail letters and get three stamps. It's no good."

But Lucy Gamble, 18, said: "I think the post office here is okay. I wanted an application form and it was hard to find but the staff were helpful and, if anything, queues are smaller than they were in the lower High Street office."

When Mitton's post office closed in June, there were fears people would have to use the branch in Tewkesbury High Street, causing longer queues.

Mitton resident and town and borough councillor Elaine Hancox said: "I've heard that it's difficult to get served in the town post office."

She said it appeared the extra staff promised by Royal Mail had not been recruited.

But Donna McKella, the town branch's manager, denied there was a problem and said extra staff had not been needed.

Twyning's post office closed in September but has since reopened on the same site in the village shop.

Nino Santarsieri, who is opening it three days a week, said: "It's taken off really nicely."

A date for closure of Forthampton's post office has yet to be fixed.