Along with railways, buses, hospitals, dentists, BT, police and our councils, post offices have always been regarded as necessary public services, paid for from public taxes, until "carved up" by Mrs Thatcher's government, including the loss of most of our industries abroad, ie gas, light and water owned by all and sundry.

So we have our post offices calmly written off everywhere because the expected "killing" did not materialise.

Pensioners are subjected to constant worry as to having to travel a lot further, longer queues and lack of transport.

What next will be sold off for profit? If anything is left.

Joan Shirmer,
Station Road,
March.


The rash of closures and threatened closures of sub-post offices, particularly in rural areas, is a travesty of public trust encouraged by an out-of-touch government.

Has it ever been considered by the faceless bureaucrats involved in local closure procedures that Church Street sub-post office at March closed several years ago, directing more work onto the post office counter at Edgoose's, High Street, and that counter, too, was effectively closed, leaving only St Peter's Road sub-post office to cope with a very large catchment area.

Now the latest crunch is aimed at removing the postal department at St Peter's Road corner shop, leaving almost a third of the town without postal facilities. It is ludicrous.

Argument of centralisation doesn't enter debate. An expanding town like March relies on a main post office and at least two sub-post offices.
The nearest post office to the areas bound to be affected will be that at Tesco's, Broad Street, March. For much of the town these premises are very inconvenient. As it is, Tesco's PO services tends to be over-whelmed.

Can anyone imagine what it will be like when an additional third of the town is forced to rely on the Broad Street postal counter? Endless waiting and queues in Tesco's will not serve the interests of post office patrons or Tesco patrons alike.

Trevor Bevis,
St Peter's Road,
March.


In spite of Thatcher and Blair, community spirit still survives – though you may have to look for it. A good place to look is our local post offices.

However, some 2,500 post offices are expected to be shut by the end of 2009.

This whole willful destruction is a New Labour classic and shows why even the ever-faithful have turned on them.

Having already closed 6,000 post offices since 1997, it issues press releases saying it wants to 'help the Post Office modernise, restore profitability, invest in new products and look at innovative ways to deliver services.'

We all know what this means. Royal Mail are preparing the ground for a huge sell-off.

JOHN SMITHEE,
Kingsley Avenue,
Wisbech.


IT is with total shock that I have been told that my post office in St Peter's Road will be closing.

What gives these people the right to affect our lives in this way? I like many others rely on the St Peter's Road post office.

March is a growing town and the alternative post office in March High Street cannot cope, is inaccessible and definitely not suitable for people with disabilities and is always crowded with Tesco shoppers and queues.

I urge all the people of March and surrounding areas to demonstrate against Post Office Ltd's planned closure of the St Peter's Road Post Office and make them change their mind.

George Netto,
Stonecross Way,
March.