The future of Palmers Green’s main post office, located at 364 Green Lanes N13, has been left in doubt after it was discovered that Royal Mail and Parcelforce vans will no longer be able to deliver or collect from outside the premises.

The parking bay outside the post office will disappear once construction works starts. When completed, the bay will become part of the continuous segregated cycle lane scheme being developed by London Borough of Enfield on the A105, which will link Palmers green and Enfield Town.

As far back as October 2015, Palmers Green Business Association, along with the campaign group, Save Our Green Lanes (SOGL), warned of this problem, but sadly Enfield Council chose to ignore it.

Royal Mail raised the safety issue of having to carry large quantities of cash and other valuable items a considerable distance by foot or crossing a busy road junction to the nearest available loading bay, on 20th February.

Postmaster Parimal Bhatt immediately passed these concerns to Enfield Council’s cabinet member responsible for the project, Cllr. Daniel Anderson, who offered hope, stating, “Clearly something needs to be done to ensure that deliveries can continue. I am copying in Rilwan Oshingbade who is the contractor’s liaison officer. He will seek to discuss the issues with you and the Collection Manager to find a resolution.”

However, a day later Mr. Bhatt received a dismissive reply from Mr Oshingbade, stating: “The new loading bay directly in front of your shop on Fox Lane will be less than 2 minutes walk from you. As discussed, the cash collection company will have no problems picking and dropping off cash to you as your shop front will be visible to the driver from the loading.”

The post office is not in Fox Lane, but opposite it, on Green Lanes. This ignores the obvious danger of crossing a busy road with a large quantity of cash in a part of London blighted by crime. When this was pointed out to him, Mr Oshingbade added insult to injury; stating dismissively: “Loading and unloading is prohibited at all times. This means that you have been using the space illegally in the past. We will be providing a new loading bay adjacent to the post office which is a change as it’s across the road but it will be a legal space for loading and unloading.”

In fact, had Mr Oshingbade researched the matter properly he will have found that Royal Mail, as a Universal Service Provider, is entitled to park on double yellow lines. Furthermore Enfield Council’s parking policy exempts post offices form loading and unloading restrictions. And yet again, he is shown to be in denial over the danger associated with carrying a large sum of cash across a busy road.

Finally Mr Oshingbade agreed to attend a meeting at the post office on Friday 24th February and then failed to show up. The matter still remains unresolved.

Postmaster, Parimal Bhatt says: “Since becoming the postmaster four years ago I have invested a huge amount of time and money, making Palmers Green post office a far more attractive and pleasant place to visit, than it was before. With the internet, post offices have lost a large proportion of the business they once had and have had to diversify to survive. However, we still have our regular customers and I feel that my post office is a hub for the local community. I would hate to see it go.”

Haroulla Psaras; a resident who has lived in Palmers Green for more than 35 years adds: “I cannot believe what is happening around us. Neither I nor any of my friends support this ridiculous cycle lanes scheme. It is for a tiny percentage of the population, not ordinary people like us. I always thought the Labour Party now running Enfield Council supported hard working communities. It seems that is no longer the case.”

Postmaster Parimal Bhatt discussing the problem with Enfield Southgate Conservative MP David Burrowes with the Royal Mail collections manager Ben Ryall (right) and (left) local resident Dom Arthur and association chairman Costas Georgiou