New Post Office worries

11.45.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 2nd Sep 2004

After the decision by the Post Office to press ahead with post office closures in Hampton, new anxieties are being expressed by residents about the main remaining post office for the area - at Bear Road, Hanworth. Signs have gone up in the office in Bear Road inviting new applicants to run the post office. And Tesco, who have acquired the site, have shown no interest in keeping the post office on their premises.

Vincent Cable said: "The Post Office is making an absolutely appalling hash of its closure programme. The decision to close Tangley Park was a dreadful mistake which flew in the face of both community feeling and independent assessment from the consumer watchdog, Post Watch. They clearly didn't think through what they were doing. I have written an urgent letter to Post Office Counters asking them to put the Tangley Park closure on hold until the Bear Road position is clarified and its future made certain".