Post Office admitted error - claim

Campaigners fighting to save a Shropshire post office claim Post Office Ltd representatives have admitted they got their figures wrong.

Post Office Ltd is planning to close Worthen Post Office and in its place operate a part-time mobile service, which would be parked somewhere in the village for 11 hours per week.

But the Save Worthen Post Office Action Group says the branch should never have been selected for closure in the first place.

It claims the disclosure came at a county council scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury.

The committee met after last Friday’s public meeting in Worthen Village Hall where 130 villagers challenged Post Office officials over the data used to select Worthen branch as a candidate for closure.

A spokesman for the campaign group said: “Mike Dalton admitted under questioning that the population figures for Worthen were around twice the size of the 311 figure quoted by Post Office Ltd in their branch access report.

“He went on to say that the mistake had been made by an external private company which provides Post Office Ltd with analysis of the 2001 Census data.”

Holly Ashley, of Worthen, said: “It’s good that Post Office Ltd have admitted they’ve made a mistake over the population figures. However, many of us still have severe doubts about some of the other data used to select the Worthen branch for closure and we’re awaiting further responses from Post Office Ltd before deciding how to proceed.”

Fellow campaigner David Jones said as the overall population figures had been severely underestimated it meant the demographic figures such as the percentage of retired people or those with serious illnesses must be re-examined.

Mike Dalton, the Post Office’s head of external relations for the region, said it had only been supplied with population data for the village and not a second set of figures focusing on the Brockton area, which doubles the number of people.

He said: “It’s something that we’re happy to make clear now it’s been pointed out to us and obviously it will be something which we will consider when reaching a decision.”

By Rhea Parsons