South Scotland MSP Joan McAlpine has described as “totally unsatisfactory” the Post Office’s handling of flood damage at a branch in Dumfries.
The Whitesands Post Office in Dumfries was closed for several weeks after flood damage this winter.
The MSP wrote to Post Office executives seeking answers about the extended closure after she was contacted by concerned constituents.
In an official response to Ms McAlpine, the Post Office admitted “there were delays in re-fitting the branch to go live”. They acknowledged that they had considered providing a temporary service but decided against this due to the associated “lead in time”.
Commenting, the MSP said:
“This is a totally unsatisfactory response from the Post Office. They were warned about flooding before moving the branch to the Whitesands – but chose to ignore these warnings. The fact the branch remained closed for so long suggests they were not prepared.
“The Post Office is owned by the UK Government so it should be answerable to taxpayers. Instead constituents in Dumfriesshire are again paying the price for a diminished service – and complete disinterest from London executives.
“It also reflects very badly on the UK Government’s continued downgrading of Post Offices by moving them into existing businesses despite massive objections from local communities, as we saw recently in Eastriggs.”
