A [Green Party] petition to save a city post office from closure has amassed more than 2,000 signatures. People in Clarendon Park gathered outside Queen's Road Post Office waving placards and urging passers-by to sign their petition...

Bob Ball, who organised the Queen's Road protest, said it was time Post Office bosses took note.

"Clarendon Park pensioners, students and workers depend heavily on this post office," he said. "We have a strong case - 2,000 people signed the petition. "Now it is vital people write to Paul Maisey, Post Office head of area, to ensure he takes action. Residents are furious."

Route Challenge
Leicester Mercury May 13 May 2004

Post Office bosses have turned down a Green Party challenge to walk the route customers would face if a city branch closed today. The Clarendon Park branch, in Queens Road, is one of 25 in Leicestershire threatened with the axe. If it closes, people would have to use Knighton Fields post office in Welford Road, which campaigners say is too far away.

The text of Bob Ball's letter to Post Office managers:

I wish to object to the suggestion that the Clarendon Park Branch Post Office, Leicester be closed. The alternative branches cited in the proposal are not, as stated in the proposal, within reasonable walking distance of each other. Nor are two of the three alternative post offices, at Knighton Fields and Evington, on the main routes from Queens Road or serviced by a frequent bus service. In fact, it appears that the assumption is that most people run cars. But that is not true for many young parents or senior citizens who do not have continuous access to personal motor transport.

It seems to me that the designers of the network reinvention programme to close local post offices have not walked the routes or appreciated the realities of getting around my area, nor the scale of the task they have imposed on the elderly and on young parents.

Therefore, we are challenging the managers of Post Office Ltd to come to Clarendon Park and walk just one of the routes. For example, the route from the Clarendon Park branch, Queens Rd, to the Knighton Fields branch, Welford Rd.

We invite the following managers to come to Clarendon Park and join a number of mothers who will be making the walk: [A list of managers followed]. We plan to depart from the Clarendon Park Post Office, Queens Rd on Thursday, May 13, at 10am.

However, to make it a realistic walk, the managers or their representatives would be asked to push a child in a pram while carrying bags of shopping to a local post office. Their efforts to complete the two mile return journey would be recorded on video and the time taken recorded with a stopwatch.

Yours sincerely

Bob Ball
Leicester Green Party