Sanquhar Post Office, Dumfries-shire, currently holds the world record for the oldest working post office – celebrating its 300th birthday just last year. However, that post is under threat after the Royal Mail requested to remove its delivery work.
In the case of Sanquhar Post Office closing, a post office in Stockholm, Sweden would assume its title; meaning both Scotland and the UK would lose the title.
Penny Murphy, sub post mistress of Sanquhar Post Office, was told that Post Office Ltd had given Sanquhar a last minute reprieve yesterday after rejecting the Royal Mail request. But the Post Office has told her the request will be repeated, so closure remains a real possibility.
The emergence of this threatened closure comes on the same day that Labour chose to boycott their own debate at Westminster on the subject of postal services in Scotland after House of Commons authorities refused to include the word ‘separation’ in the debate title.
South of Scotland MSP, Joan McAlpine, has since written to Moya Greene, CEO of Royal Mail Group calling on her to thing again and to recognise the special status of the world’s oldest post office.
She has said in the letter that, “This would be a dreadful blow for Sanquhar, a beautiful and ancient Royal Burgh which has suffered in recent years from the scourge of unemployment. The post office is an important facility for the townspeople and a source of employment, as well as a tourist attraction bringing welcome visitors. If mail is transferred to Thornhill, delivery workers will need to make several trips back and forward every day, increasing fuel costs and also the Royal Mail’s carbon footprint.” McAlpine also describes the cancelled Westminster debate as, “obsessed with putting childish games ahead of debating topics that matter to people in Scotland.”
Published on aliveradio.net
Kemii 