Royal Mail meeting in Whitstable

Hello Herne Bay!

The people of Whitstable want to invite you to a Public Meeting here in Whitstable this Fri (1st Feb 2013) to hear your side of the story since you lost your delivery office to Canterbury.

Royal Mail say the move is successful? I think there are some porky pies being told there.

Come and tell us YOUR side of the story. We will take all your comments directly to Royal Mail as we are fighting hard here to save our own delivery office.

Here's a short film of last Saturday's protest here and some information beneath the clip of film. Please pass on this message! There will be a story in your local press this week.

Julie Wassmer

Another peaceful demonstration by the good people of Whitstable against Royal Mail's plans to close down the sorting office in Cromwell Road. If closed, this would force users to make a 16 mile round journey to Canterbury in order to collect their packages. Royal Mail call it 'Modernisation'.

'Mail chaos' after sorting office shut

Customers who miss delivery of their Christmas parcels are facing "chaos and confusion" thanks to the closure of the town's sorting office, campaigners claim. The office in Eddington Lane shut as part of plans by Royal Mail to modernise the service and postal workers are now based in the Canterbury office.

But protestors who are still battling to save the Whitstable delivery office say the move has been a disaster. Campaigner Julie Wassmer is urging people to write to Royal Mail bosses to keep up the pressure. She said:

"Following the Herne Bay delivery office move there is operational pandemonium in the Canterbury delivery office. Canterbury cannot cope with the mail from Herne Bay. We must fight this absurd proposal for which Royal Mail failed to give due consultation, so please write your views in an e-mail to Moya Greene, CEO of Royal Mail. Customers talk of chaos and confusion in the Canterbury office, of ringing up for hours or even days on end and not being able to get through. Even if they manage to speak to a real person in the office, it will be several days before redelivery can take place."

A petition opposing the move has attracted 5,000 signatures and a similar campaign in Nottingham successfully stopped a delivery office being moved. They collected 300 signatures.

Campaigners fear shutting the coastal centres will put up to 100 vehicles on to the road each working day as postal workers drive to and from Canterbury to pick up and deliver mail, causing congestion and environmental damage.

Whitstable staff were yesterday expected to ballot for strike action and have 28 days after the result to stage a walk out. This means the threatened postal strike will not happen before Christmas. Member of the Communication Workers Union, Chris Stone, said:

"I think a lot of us would have been uncomfortable putting our customers' Christmas mail at risk."

Royal Mail spokeswoman Sally Hopkins said postal workers had been consulted in 2010. The closure of the Whitstable delivery office and relocating work to Canterbury was the second phase of the changes. The first phase saw all sorting facilities moved under one roof to a super sorting office in Medway.

thisiskent 13th Dec 2012

100 march against post closures

More than 100 campaigners took to the streets in protest at plans to close Royal Mail sorting offices in Herne Bay and Whitstable. They marched through Herne Bay on Saturday and along the seafront, led by Bay sound engineer David Shepherd, 39, with a loud hailer.

Joining him was Whitstable campaigner and postman Chris Stone. Royal Mail Wants to close depots in Eddington Lane, Herne Bay, and Cromwell Road, Whitstable, as part of a huge shake-up within the next two years. Operations would be concentrated at the Canterbury depot in Military Road. The march was featured by both BBC and ITV. Mr Shepherd, who also took along his young son Oscar, said:

"We are bringing the issue to the attention of more people. We fear Herne Bay and Whitstable residents will be forced to travel to Canterbury to collect undelivered post."

Protesters predict it will take posties longer to complete their rounds. The Royal Mail says the changes are part of a modernisation programme that will cut costs and increase efficiency. Canterbury and Whitstable MP Julian Brazier has written to Royal Mail bosses, warning:

"The mail will have to be carried to and from Canterbury by van, rather than bicycle, which seems a retrogressive step at a time when you are publicly committed to greener options."

Postman Chris Stone said:

"There has already been £400 million spent on new machinery which actually slows down delivery. Millions have been spent on new vans to replace bikes."

Mr Stone said he was slightly disappointed by the turnout in Herne Bay - 200 people joined the Whitstable march - but he feels there is time to build the campaign.

HB Times 30th Jun 2011

So-called savings will deliver more costs

As I'm sure you know by now, they are closing down the delivery offices in Whitstable and Herne Bay, and relocating them to Canterbury. This is being done in the name of savings. It will cost less to maintain a single centralised office than three local offices, we are told. But is it true? I've been working it out.

There are 50 workers each in Whitstable and Herne Bay - 100 workers altogether. It will take about 30 minutes each way to drive to and from Canterbury. So that's an hour of Royal Mail time spent getting postal workers to and from the start of their rounds. They earn £8.86 an hour, so it will cost the company £886 a day, which is £5,316 a week, or £276,432 a year.

That's more than a quarter of a million pounds a year just to get the workforce to the start of their round every day. How is that a “saving” exactly? What kind of accountant adds a quarter of a million pounds to your wages bill and then describes it as a saving?

This is not to speak of the extra pollution of hundreds of vans spluttering about Canterbury during the rush hour or the cost in maintenance, petrol, road tax and insurance. It's not to speak of traffic chaos in Canterbury or parking problems in Military Road. It's not to speak of the inconvenience to customers of having to travel to Canterbury to pick up their undelivered mail.

Those of you who sent a letter to the Royal Mail after the march in Whitstable will know how dismissive they are. It is a business matter, they say; they don't have to consult, case closed. It is time for us to stand up and tell them we demand that they listen, and the case is not closed. The Herne Bay march will assemble at 2pm on Saturday outside the May Lodge Club, Herne Bay, to begin marching at 3pm. I hope to see you there.

Written in Stone: HB Gazette 23rd Jun 2011

Councillors say sorting office closure will be 'horrendous'

Closing the sorting office in Herne Bay will affect new businesses, according to concerned councillors. Members of the city council's ruling executive debated Royal Mail's plan to shut the depot and move staff to Canterbury, at their meeting on Thursday. Petitioner Dick Eburne said the move would cause many problems. He said:

"It will have a significant impact on the people of Herne Bay who want to collect their mail."

Bay councillor Peter Lee said:

"This concerns me greatly, particularly when people are starting new businesses, post is still an important factor when getting a business off the ground. They don't really have a clue in what they are doing and it concerns me that the service is only going to get worse."

The decision to shut the offices in Herne Bay and Whitstable was described as "horrendous" by Herne councillor Peter Vickery-Jones, who said there would be an extra 2,500 journeys for posties.

The closures are part of a restructure planned to be completed by 2013. Protesters say people would have to travel to the city to collect parcels not delivered. Protesters will march through Herne Bay on Saturday, June 25. Everyone is welcome to join them at May Lodge, 14 Central Parade, Herne Bay, at 2pm. The march will set off at 3pm.

HB Times 23rd Jun 2011

No Post? Here's a number to call

Hats off to Kay McPherson for tracking down a phone number that seems to make a difference: she called it, then her post turned up. It might work for you.

Ring the number and report your problems

I agree with Dan Woollett. The postal service in Beltinge is just not happening at the moment. For the last two weeks I have used the Royal Mail customer services line to lodge a fail-to-deliver complaint. Then my post arrives two days later. Both times they claim no one else has had the same problem.

Please encourage your readers to phone 08457 740740 and report when post does not come as this new system is just not good service. If this trial area does not make its voice heard then the country will suffer in the future.

HB Gazette letters, 16th December 2010

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Well, there you have it, dear readers - the future of the country is in our hands. It's your patriotic duty to complain, so now you know that you have the unimpeachable moral high ground, get cracking!

3rd Class Post

At last, we have something that looks like an explanation for our local postal service falling apart. One of my many tireless and diligent spies has been out and about quizzing the foot-soldiers of the Postal Empire, and has managed to winkle out some worthwhile information. As many people had been suspecting for a while, we have fallen foul of progress, in particular the Post Office's evidently bonkers notion of "four wheels good, two wheels bad".

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Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 8:33 PM

To: hernebaygazette@thekmgroup.co.uk

Subject: Mail deliveries in Herne Bay

I read with interest the letter in last weeks Gazette "What is happening to our Post deliveries", as I and a considerable number of others in Herne Bay have been having similar problems since mid-November (before the snow & ice). I have on a number of occasions been to the Sorting Office to enquire if there was a problem as my and my neighbours deliveries had dropped from daily to what appears to be every 4 days, when we receive a larger than normal delivery.

Each time the answer has been that there was no problem and the mail was being sent out as normal. However, one postman I asked did give me a sensible answer. Namely, that the problems have arisen since the Royal Mail stopped using Bicycles and moved to the current “Trolley” system. It appears that there are not sufficient vehicles to ferry the postman, their trolleys and the mail to all the required locations and as such a sort of rota system is in operation.

The response from the post-person seems logical and does explain the lack of deliveries. If this is the case, why will not the local sorting office tell us what is happening and what they are doing to correct the matter. Or is this yet another way of justifying the potential move to Canterbury. And on a matter of principle, if they cannot deliver to the Service Levels, why do they continue to accept first & second class mail only to deliver a third world service?

Regards
A.W. – Herne Bay

What happened to my package?

Residents vent frustration with Royal Mail

HB Times 28th Oct 2010

Parcel "farce" at delivery centre

HB Times 21st Oct 2010

Third class post

HB Times 7th Oct 2010

Mail plan would mean closure for sorting office

HB Times 30th Sep 2010