Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone MP on Friday visited Royal Mail’s Muswell Hill Delivery Office to pass on her best Christmas wishes and encouragement to the postmen and women at their busiest time of year.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP was shown round the Delivery Office by local Delivery Office manager Alton Kennedy and was introduced to the postmen and women who are working hard doing their bit to sort and deliver Muswell Hill’s share of the estimated total 2 billion UK Christmas mail bag.

Lynne Featherstone MP commented:

“It was great to meet the hard-working Royal Mail postmen and women at Muswell Hill Delivery Office and to see firsthand just how much effort they put into delivering the Christmas post for people this December.

“Posties do such an important job at this time of year and I would like to thank them for their efforts and wish them all the best over the busy festive period.”

Muswell Hill Royal Mail Delivery Office Manager at Alton Kennedy said:

“Christmas is the busiest time of year, and our people really do pull out all the stops to deliver the Christmas mailbag. We are pleased that Lynne Featherstone MP came along to witness the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.”

“The postal staff do a fantastic job at this time of year to ensure that friends and families stay in touch through their Christmas greetings and gifts.  And as usual, we urge our customers to post early so that friends and family have longer to enjoy their Christmas greetings!”

It is also vital that people remember the last posting dates for mail. These are:

• Tuesday 20 December for 1^st Class items
• Saturday 17 December for 2^nd Class items
• Thursday 22 December for Special Delivery items

To help Royal Mail at its busiest time of the year, customers are being encouraged to take a few simple steps:

• Post early – to help Royal Mail spread the workload, post early and order presents early. The last posting dates this Christmas are: December 17 for 2^nd Class mail; December 20 for 1^st Class mail; December 22 for Special Delivery

• Use a postcode – A clearly addressed card or parcel, with a postcode, helps Royal Mail sort the item more efficiently   

• For more information about Christmas with Royal Mail visit: www.royalmail.com or call 08457 740 740.

I see on the news this morning, that a new survey by Consumer Focus is showing that half of those ‘sorry you were out’ slips delivered by posties because things are too big to get through our letterboxes, were shoved through the door when people were in.

The response by the Royal Mail is to repeat the mantra that this is against company policy and that any post person found sticking these notes through the door without ringing – and judging from the report – without even carrying the parcel to the door – will be disciplined.

So – if the Royal Mail is so shit hot on clamping down on this practise – how come it is such a common experience? During this so-called disciplining – are posties noses growing longer?

Or is it the management – not really walking the talk? I am tabling a Parliamentary Question to find out how many disciplinary actions have been taken in each delivery office over each of the last three years.

The Royal Mail needs to show us that it is an exemplar service right at the moment when the battle for survival is so fierce. We love our Royal Mail – but we need them to shape up – otherwise they will write their own obituary.

Ernestmarples.com doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue and is not that well known. However, it is a vital part of making information that you or I might want not only accessible – but relevant – because it can relate to the locations we are interested in.

There are (or rather, were) websites that we can access when we want to know, for example, if there is a planning application near us. There are websites that can take the information about jobs available through the Job Centre and send us that information.

It is that very special feature – being postcode driven, so that information can be given in the geographical locations we want – that makes them so useful. This dissemination of useful information, driven by postcodes, is beneficial forgot just for individuals but for the country.

But the Royal Mail has decided that only it can use postcodes – even if as in this case – it is not for profit and for human good.

The Royal Mail threatened to take a case against Ernestmarples (which underpins a range of valuable different website services) on copyright grounds. Obviously – this is David and Goliath – and Ernestmarples could not afford to take on the might of the Royal Mail and so have closed down their site.

But we all need to join in this fight. I was asked my views – and here they are:

As Chair of the Liberal Democrat Technology Board – and an MP who believes that the internet should be used to strengthen democracy – I want to declare my support for the Free our Data campaign.

We need postcodes to be owned by the public – not sold to the public. Postcodes are the basic pre-requisite for allowing services to be developed that support democratic accountability.

As an MP, sites like MySociety and others are revolutionizing our accountability and the accountability and accessibility of Parliament. But they currently have to operate on the edge of legality – and if our postcodes were set free – could and would be right at the heart of a new politics – an open and accountable politics.

This is an issue that cuts across parties – hence Labour MP Tom Watson talking about it on Lib Dem Voice – and so it should, because it’s about how the data about us can help us all.

Outside of the current industrial action on post – I have recently been raising issues around delivery problems with the Royal Mail, following a piece of casework from a resident of Crouch End.

This issue is about receiving notification of a parcel delivery – i.e. a card through the door saying ‘you were out when we called’ – when in fact the resident was inside the house. The Royal Mail response to me on this is that these cards are a last resort in the delivery process and that my constituent should in turn appreciate that the incentive is to find someone in – so that they deliver as many parcels as possible, making their load lighter and reducing paper work.

I have come down from upstairs on occasion to find a delivery notice through my letterbox and wanted to scream. So – maybe I am deaf – or maybe the post person only gave one ring. Who knows? But given that we would all be happier if this could be solved or improved the next bit of their response is a bit better.

The Delivery Officer says: “Obviously I am keen to ensure that procedures are being followed and have re-trained and counselled the Delivery Staff on this very important procedure”.

So – that’s a good move forward on this – but one to keep an eye on. Do let me know your own experiences from now on (preferably with details of time, place etc.), whether in Crouch End or elsewhere.

(My constituent just left a message on my answerphone without a name or number – so if he or she is reading this can they also let me know their details as Guy Onions, the Delivery Office Manager has said he is happy to discuss this matter directly with my constituent to “ensure that it is satisfactorily resolved” and asks that they contact him at their earliest convenience and gives a direct phone number. So if you get in touch with me – I can give you the number.)

Here’s my latest piece for the Highgate Handbook & Muswell Hill Flyer magazines:

And it came to be! We all said that if our precious sub-Post Offices closed, the displaced users would have to go to other post offices and queues would lengthen. Even outside of the Christmas pressures – queues have been out the door at the remaining Post Offices.

To move it from anecdotal to actual, in the autumn I launched a Post Office survey where I asked local residents to count their waiting times. I have now put together the numbers and they show what we all feared – waiting times are absolutely outrageous in many of our local Post Offices, with waiting times of up to an hour in both Muswell Hill and Wood Green!

Given the Post Office promised extra resources during their ‘consultation’ on the closures so that we wouldn’t be faced with extra queues – and spoiling for a fight because they haven’t delivered on that promise – I met Crown Post Office Network Manager Richard Barker and presented him with the results.

Being able to show him actual numbers really worked, as he promised three more staff at Wood Green Post Office. But sadly – for the rest of us it is about managing the business better and about getting people to go in when there are no queues – for the time being.

Mr Barker also listened good and hard when I told him that many elderly residents find it very difficult to stand and queue for such long periods of time. He has now promised to put in as much seating as possible when the Crown Post Offices in Crouch End, Wood Green and Muswell Hill get refurbished this summer.

I have also been nagging the Government about the continued need for local postal services. In the Government’s response to me there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon and Mr Baker mentioned this too – that Royal Mail are planning to introduce Post Office outreach services in communities, and I will fight hard for our local parades to get as many of these as possible – so watch this space!

Feature in two stories in the Journal today – long queues at our Post Offices and opposing plans for cuts to our local train stations.

Two stories from the Journal:

SUPPORT is mounting for a life-size bronze statue to be built remembering a pioneering black footballer and First World War hero at the new Spurs stadium…

Early backers of the online petition include Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, and Walter Tull’s biographer Phil Vasili.

Mr Blumsom said: “I’ve always been fascinated by Walter Tull’s story. He had to overcome prejudice and racism both in his career as a footballer and as a soldier.

“I’ve suggested that this statue should be placed in a prominent position on the approach to the new stadium.” (Full story here)

And then also more on the problems of queues at our Post Offices in the run-up to Christmas:

URGENT talks will be held with Post Office bosses after MP Lynne Featherstone attacked excessively long Christmas queues after half the branches were axed.

The MP for Hornsey and Wood Green said queues outside the Crouch End post office stretched far down the pavement during the festive season despite promises from the Post Office.

She said: “It’s plain to see that the remaining post offices are finding it difficult to cope with the increased customer pressure.

“It’s not exactly rocket science that closing every second post office locally would result in larger queues at the remaining shops.”

Six branches across Haringey were given the chop this summer including two in Crouch End – Ferme Park Road and Weston Park – leaving the remaining branches struggling to handle the additional customers. (Full story here)

Visited Wood Green Delivery Office to meet the postmen and women who bring us our post all through the year – and at Christmas when the post bag must be ginormous!

There’s an absolutely wonderful atmosphere there – banter and fun all the way. The one very serious issue that was drawn to my attention, however, was the increasing problem they are having with tradesman bell times. Before, generally blocks of flats had access through tradesmen’s bells from say 7 – 10am. But the post office has changed its delivery times so that the last rounds go out even as late as 2pm. This is resulting in the posties not being able to deliver blocks – sometimes going back over several days.

Obviously people want their post ASAP. And obviously people don’t want the tradesman bells working all day as that would defeat the object of keeping people out. Keys are one possibility. A change in hours the next. Getting the post office to change its last deliver van to Hornsey & Wood Green – a long shot!

So that’s my task – to see if that conundrum can be solved – as it’s clearly a difficult but very important issue.!

And yes – my office made me wear the hat! Christmas cheer to all and thanks to everyone at Wood Green for being so welcoming – and at such an ungodly hour!

I’ve distributed a survey to every house across the Hornsey & Wood Green constituency asking people to record how long they have to queue at the Post Office.

I want to get a comprehensive assessment of the level of service following the spate of Post Office closures (five serving the area have gone). The findings of the survey will be presented to the Post Office and – if they show unacceptable waiting times – will be a good source of pressure to review the closures.

I’m particularly concerned that not only have five Post Offices gone, but that so far there hasn’t been compensating investment in the remaining ones – not only will people have further to travel, but they could also face long queues as more people are crammed into the same capacity at our remaining Post Offices.

If you haven’t had a survey yourself for some reason (or would like another copy), just get in touch.

Watching Labour minister Pat McFadden on TV yesterday (Andrew Marr show) state what we have all been screaming – that even profitable sub-Post Offices are being closed in the relentless decimation of local public services.

I’ve always argued that you can’t judge local public services simply on the basis of direct cash profit and loss – there are indirect costs and benefits too, and many of the benefits are not cash but in other forms. But it really takes the biscuit to be told that even Post Offices that are making a profit on a narrow cash basis are being closed!

For those that aren’t making a direct cash profit – with an open mind and a bit of determination it is not beyond the wit of man to make more of them profitable by introducing other services.

In Highgate, for example, the Highgate Society did a cost / benefit analysis. They obtained from the Post Office the proposed savings from closing that outlet.

And what did they find? Savings from central services around £25,000. Cost to local people in terms of extra time taken to go to further away Post Office alternatives – around £300,000.

So – the cost is to us and the benefit is to the Post Office. Did the Government not think that some of us think the £150 million ‘subsidy’ was actually a subsidy worth paying until more services could be brought in to up the profit of each branch? They are certainly happy enough to throw zillions at useless things like ID cards.

Also – there are fifty councils looking to try and help Post Offices stay open by putting council services through them. I attacked George Meehan (Labour leader of Haringey Council) when I did my surgery from our threatened Salisbury Road Post Office on this – and he promised to look into it. I have, since written to him to ask same. No reply as yet.