Post offices could go mobile to survive

Rural post offices could go mobile or relocate to pubs and church halls under plans to preserve the threatened network.

The ideas are being encouraged by the Scottish Executive, as it faces fallout from the likely closure of hundreds of rural post offices.

Whitehall ministers will announce this week that changes to the support for Britain’s loss-making post offices, including the removal of counter services on which they have depended, could see many of them close.

Opposition parties, business and campaign groups yesterday stepped up their demands for ministers not to sanction wholesale closures among the 14,500 offices across the UK.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling will tell MPs this week how much money the government is prepared to give the Royal Mail which will help shape the future size of the network.

Ross Finnie, Scotland’s Rural Development Minister, has been putting the special case for Scotland’s rural post offices, arguing that closures would mean the financial exclusion of many Scots.

Pilots have been tried to make the network more flexible, combining services with other facets of village life, including the village hall, and pub. There has also been the possibility of running mobile post office vans.