Lifesavers and community champions shortlisted for 2006 best Post Office® awards

The shortlist for the 2006 Best Post Office® Awards has revealed a host of Post Office® branches willing to go the extra mile for their customers and communities.

The shortlists for three special awards categories, which recognise Post Office® teams which go beyond the call of duty, show outstanding community spirit or real innovation in providing Post Office® services, include a number of branches which have literally offered a lifesaving service to their customers.

The teams at Barnhill near Dundee and South Reddish in Cheshire are just two branches that have provided emergency assistance to customers who have been taken ill, and have been praised for saving their lives.

Other branches shortlisted include Tarbolton in Ayrshire which, as well as running a host of charity fundraising activities, also opens its doors on Christmas Day to ensure everyone in the area can come together to share some Christmas cheer. Perhaps the strangest offer of hospitality was from staff at Bonymaen in West Glamorgan who took care of a four foot iguana when its owner needed to find a new home.

It seems that the pub is the hub for Post Office® services in rural communities with three pubs shortlisted for the title of Best Rural Post Office® branch. Some of the more unusual branches found in the shortlist for the most innovative category include Post Office® branches on goat and cheese farms and branches in a chemist, tea- rooms, mobile library and church.

Alan Cook, Managing Director of Post Office Ltd said: "Post Office® branches are at the heart of communities across the UK. They go to great lengths to offer a great service, in many cases going well beyond simply offering Post Office® services – sometimes literally saving lives in the course of their working day.

"The Best Post Office® Awards provide an excellent opportunity for our customers to tell us which branches are the very best, and also which ones go beyond the call of duty, in turn allowing us to recognise the hard work and commitment of our people in branches across the UK."

When it comes to reaching out to communities the team at Aldeburgh branch in Suffolk certainly go the extra mile. They have been taking part in a Post Office® pilot scheme offering an outreach service to six other villages in addition to their own. While the villagers of Newton Ferrers in Devon were so determined to keep their local Post Office® branch that when the local village shop in which it housed was put up for the sale they bought the premises and volunteered a new sub-postmistress to manage the branch.

The winners of the 2006 Best Post Office® Awards, held in association with National Savings and Investments, will be announced on Thursday 16 November.

-ENDS-
Issued by:
Post Office Ltd press office
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ
www.postoffice.co.uk

Notes to Editors
A full list, and further information, on shortlisted branches is available on request.

There are national and regional awards for the following:
• Best Rural Post Office® branch
• Best Town and City Post Office® branch
• Best Main Post Office® branch

In addition there are three national special awards:
• Above and Beyond – for people and branches which have gone the extra mile for their customers
• Charity Fundraising/Community Actions – for people and branches which have taken part in charity fundraising or community actions projects
• Most Innovative Post Office® branch – there are Post Office® branches in all sorts of unusual locations e.g. pubs, petrol stations and farm shops. This award recognises innovation in meeting individual community needs.

About the Post Office®
With around 14,300 branches across the country, the Post Office® is the largest retail and financial services chain in the UK. Its network is larger than all of the UK’s banks and building societies put together. Around 94 per cent of the UK population lives within a mile of a Post Office® branch and 25 million customers visit every week.

The Post Office® offers over 170 products and services including travel and financial services (including personal loans, car, home and travel insurance and a new "two in one" credit card), banking services, bill payments, HomePhone (its home telephone service), gift vouchers and cards, lottery products, licence applications, phonecards and mobile phone top-ups, and postal services. It is the largest supplier of foreign currency in the UK and is a leading provider of travel insurance. The Post Office® is also the biggest cash handler in the country with more than £92 billion passing through its hands each year, 17p in every £1 in circulation goes through a Post Office® branch and around 400 million household bills are paid at Post Office® branches each year. To find out where your nearest Post Office® branch is call 08457 22 33 44.

National Savings and Investments
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is one of the UK’s largest savings and investments providers with around 26 million customers and £72 billion invested. NS&I provides a wide range of savings and investments, including Premium Bonds, Savings Certificates, Income Bonds, Children’s Bonus Bonds, Guaranteed Equity Bonds and the Easy Access Savings Account. NS&I is able to offer a 100% capital guarantee on all the products it offers because it is backed by HM Treasury. NS&I, formed in 1861, is a government department and an executive agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

50 years of Premium Bonds – during 2006 and 2007, NS&I will be celebrating 50 years since Premium Bonds were launched in 1956 and the first draw took place in 1957. To celebrate NS&I will give away five £1 million prizes in each of its two anniversary draws in both December 2006 and June 2007.

NS&I Media Contact
Jonathan Akerman
020 7348 9433
[email protected]