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A sub-postmaster at a village post office under threat of closure has started a petition to reverse a decision made by Royal Mail.
Mailworkers will be relocated from Dersingham Post Office in August and relocated to the sorting office in Lynn and the petition currently has a combined total online and at the counter of more than 1,000 signatures.
Fraser Lindsay, sub-postmaster, has started a petition that can be accessed online or in the post office, for residents and users to sign, which they hope will persuade Royal Mail to change their minds.
Mr Lindsay, who runs the post office with his wife Maria, said: “I received a letter from Royal Mail telling me that we are going to lose our postmen, and that they are going to relocate them into Lynn.
“As a direct result of that I am going to lose half of my salary which will be devastating for us and also the village.
“Lots of people use us for various things, for posting as well as banking, and also a hub for the food bank which we have raised thousands of pounds for.
“All of that might be lost if we can’t afford to keep going.
“So what we are asking people to do is to sign the petition online and also the one in the shop and hopefully that will bring pressure on the powers that be and hopefully Royal Mail will change their mind.
“If they do change their mind and we are left alone then we’re fine.”
Mr Lindsay has also been encouraging people to write to James Wild MP and has had a statement of support from the MP about the vital role that rural post offices play in the community.
Post Office and Royal Mail are two separate companies and it is the Royal Mail mailwork facility used for mail collections and deliveries in the area that is closing, not the Post Office and this is a decision made by Royal Mail and not Post Office.
The mailworkers in Heacham Post Office will also be relocated to Hunstanton in August as confirmed by Sally Partyka, sub-postmistress at Heacham.
Julie Phillips who lives in Snettisham is 79 and relies on her husband, 81, to drive her to Dersingham Post Office.
She walks with an aid due to needing a knee operation and can not walk far, and she said: “To get to the Lynn office would be difficult for me.
“I would have to walk to the bus stop at Snettisham, get the bus and walk into Lynn.”
A spokesperson from Royal Mail, said: “Undelivered items will be taken back to the Lynn delivery office and can either be collected at the customer service point, or redelivered to either the person’s home address or to the Post Office in Dersingham for collection from there.”
Mr C Franklin, 89, who lives in Dersingham is unable to get out easily and although the items can be relocated to his address, Mr and Mrs Lindsay offer him help with form filling- in, particularly recently when he was the victim of a telephone scam.
Following a fall which meant using his alarm and being taken to hospital, getting out to the post office is where he is able to meet others and have a friendly chat.
He said: “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.
“I shall feel very bitter if they had to close this Post Office, being as we are living in such a big village.”
Online the petition has received some 668 signatures and at the counter the paper petition stands at approximately 400.
Maria Lindsay said: “We have had overwhelming support and we will keep the petition going until August and then send it to James Wild.”
Dennis Wright, councillor, Dersingham Parish Council, said: “It is absolutely disgusting to thik a village of this size having a post office closed, well it is wrong,
It is a village of retirement, people come here to retire and they are not all people who can do online banking
“Many old people rely on the post office to withdraw cash.
“It is a place that is needed in a village of Dersingham’s size
This shop, Maria and Fraser have worked their life setting this business up basically for their retirement and it is all going to be taken away from them.
“It is wrong, it is totally wrong.
“Everyone in this village should sign this petition and save this post office
“You know Dersingham needs it.
“A village this size, it is totally out of order.”
Maggie Anderson, who organises Baby Basics in Dersingham, said: “Dersingham Post Office is vital to the community.
“It is a community hub.
“Dersingham post office supports so many elderly people who cannot otherwise get to the post office, not do banking, banks are shutting, so they have no other alternative but to come here
“It has raised 11,000 since 2020 for the food bank.
“It has books and it is just a general community hub where people can come to meet other people as well.
“Fraser is so giving and hospitable it would be a devastating loss to the village.”
Linda Sampson said: “Our post office is so much more than just a post office.
“It is our meeting place and we don’t want to lose it.”
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