Dear Sir,

Until recently I had not realised that the POst Office had a sense of humour.

After enmtering the new shrunken Post Office in North Finchley I wondered if THe PO was having a laugh at the exoense of the residents of this catchment area.

Some readers may not be aware that the early this year, the Post Office made public a desire to move the service to a more compact site.

Nobody who had noticed and read the glossy consultation flyer believed that it was anything other than a sham, and was a mere legal sophistication /trick to indicate a degree of formality and a display of integrity.

THe document explained that there would be some reduction of services.

To nobodys surprise, the decision to move and shrink the post office was duly announced.

So one could be prepared for some losses of service.

However I was not prepared for what I now find in the new site, and disappointed to find that the new premises are worse than I had supposed.

The move was from a central optimally placed and well equipped comfortable site, to a compact periferal site with only counters for service.

The exile to a miniaturised site that is a fraction of the size of the previous site is surprising and dismaying.

The location is at the back of a shop. It appears to be a conversion of an extension similar to a conservatory that is perhaps more suited to a florists or garden shop

There is insufficient space for queuing.

There is a partially dropped and unusually low ceiling that some may find uncomfortable.

Users of normal height will not encounter any problem, but

the ceiling height of approximately 7 feet means that the tallest people should exercise a degree of care.

It is obvious that at peak times the new premises will not be able to cope with the level of demand that was experienced at the previous location.

I have read that this country has the 6th largest economy in the world, by some measures. If so, then how is it that the government cannot provide basic services such as a decent post service.



It still remains to be explained what is the advantage of moving from a site of which the Post Office holds the freehold, and on which it pays no rent, to a shop premises that will occur a high annual rent of around £40,000 .



It is a comfort to see that the original staff have moved with the office. However we should not expect them to smile as much as before when we bear in mind that their salaries have been substantially reduced.



It is still a matter of regret that the MP for this area is unable to support his constituents in this matter.

It will not escape the notice of the thoughtful reader that even more money could be saved by closing the North Finchley Post Office entirely, and that this is not a problem, since full facilities are still available (for the moment at least) at Golders Green and Barnet which are both conveniently served by local buses, and at Camden Town, which is easy for users of the Northern Line.

End