THE new owner of Okehampton Post Office has warned that Government policy will inevitably force the closure of thousands of town and village post offices. Allenton Fisher, who has just taken over Okehampton Post Office also operates the outreach post offices at Exbourne, Belstone and Sticklepath which he says are ?without doubt? now under serious threat. He said the Government?s recent decision to phase out Post Office Card Accounts ? used by millions of benefits claimants across the country ? over the next four years, would hit rural post offices hard. Mr Fisher said perhaps as many as one in three customers in Okehampton had a card account, but he believed the percentage was a great deal higher in rural areas where the service was a lifeline for many users. He said customers who had been made aware of the change at the outreach post office operating in Exbourne on Monday morning, had been ?incensed? by the decision. Mr Fisher said people were ?busting a gut? to keep community post offices open, often for one day a week in many rural areas, and this work was being undermined by the Government?s decision. Mr Fisher said because postmasters are franchisees and are paid for the transactions they carry out, the loss of the card account and its associated transactions would have dire consequences for smaller post offices which do not offer services such as online currency, passports and car tax. Mr Fisher said he did not think that Okehampton would necessarily be under threat but it would have to change what it offers to survive. He added: ?I believe that post offices are at the heart of most communities and should be protected at all costs. Many of our customers rely on getting their cash and paying their bills within their local community?. .Torridge and West Devon Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox said: ?The behaviour of the Government on this issue has been absolutely disgraceful. ?Rural people are understandably keen to support their post offices, but there is no evidence the Government is working with rural post offices to develop new facilities and services they can offer, instead they have tried to undermine the card account at every opportunity and are now withdrawing it.? The National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) says the Department of Work and Pensions has introduced pilot schemes which will involve the removal of the option to open a card account from some new benefits claimants. Colin Baker, general secretary of the National Federation of SubPostmasters said: ?It is hard to feel anything other than betrayed by the Department of Work and Pensions, with one government department saying it is committed to a thriving network while another pulls the rug from under us.? A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: ?Government funding for the Post Office Card Account will end in March 2010 as always planned. All existing customers will still be able to use the Post Office to collect their benefit or pension if they wish by using a bank account there ? 25 different bank accounts can be accessed at Post Office branches now, and we hope there could be more in the future. ? The spokesperson said the pilots were not about forcing customers away from the card account system but a ?sensible measure designed just to gather information about customers? needs to help plan a smooth transition between now and 2010 when the card account contract eventually ends.? The DWP rejected as ?completely wrong? the union?s claim that they were denying people the chance to open a card account.
