I have just heard, via a Royal Mail press release, that Hornsey Delivery Office and parcel collection point will be relocated in September – to the Bush Industrial Estate in N19.
I am angry – to say the least!
After local residents and I successfully campaigned to prevent the closure in 2012, Royal Mail assured me that I would be kept informed of any future plans. Yet this came out of the blue. Just two weeks ago, a Royal Mail representative wrote to me saying: ‘I can confirm that there are no plans in place to close Hornsey Delivery Office.’
This is simply unacceptable. Royal Mail have not taken into account the views and needs of local people and customers. The Delivery Office and parcel collection point are vital and valuable local resources. Many residents simply won’t be able to travel all the way to N19 to pick up their parcels – so will be forced to pay for redelivery.
Even if we can’t save the Office itself, the local Lib Dems and I will fight with residents again to keep a parcel collection service in N8. I have already called a meeting with the top officers at Royal Mail and will be putting the case very strongly to them.
Residents can sign the petition calling on Royal Mail to rethink and retain a free, local, parcel collection point here.
Lynne Featherstone 
Very sneaky – but entirely anticipated as the “we’ll review but not change our minds” policy is rampant when there is any level of local opposition (Hornsey depot scheme used the same cynical tactics). Following privatisation, there is also no need to consider public service needs, just that of shareholders.
Why can’t they re-locate the parcel collections to one of the post offices, or local commercial enterprises? According to tfl website, it takes 2 buses and 10 minutes walking minimum to get from my house to N19 (I don’t have a car) and around 2 hours 20 minutes in total to collect a parcel from this N19 location (excl waiting times). For others it will be much, much longer, presenting major challenges for the disabled, elderly and less well-off. There’s little point in free re-delivery as we can’t specify time or date and a significant charge is added if it goes to the local post office – in addition to a considerable delay.
Perhaps the most powerful message would be a public campaign to persuade businesses and individuals to use alternative carriers who use local re-collection points – money talks louder than public service.
How can they justify this….a bus ride away for many, two buses for even more…or pay for redeliver! What about elderly & poor people who can’t afford this!
We need somewhere in N8 at least…with longer opening hours, easy access,weekend opening,local staff that know the area & customers. Please listen to what people need.
Royal Mail closing Hornsey parcel depot.
The radius covered by the proposed new parcel office is presumably far greater and I have no doubt that whatever is promised, there will be excessive queues and parking problems for us all when collecting our parcels. Probably we will be asked to pay to park while we stand in a queue.
Not to forget the environmental and congestion impact of thousands of extra vehicle journeys.
No amount of promises regarding redelivery is going to satisfy any of us, it simply won’t work.
Yes, privatization strikes again. This is profit focused business taking over another public service, typical of life in the UK under all recent governments.
There is not the slightest regard for people’s needs and demands when the private investors take over.
So, Lynne. Have you and the rest of us wasted our time making our opinions known through an apparently successful campaign resulting in promises that this would not happen? The true democratic process? Nope, we’ve been trodden on again.
In spite of the internet, postal services are still a major artery in today’s world. Email may have reduced the use of letter post but internet shopping has grown so much that it threatens high street shops. Proof of our extensive use of parcel post.
I searched for this webpage in order to sign a petition against closure of Hornsey Sorting Office. It appears I have merely signed up to your newsletter which I do not really want to receive and from which I will unsubscribe at first opportunity. I hope completion of the form which inevitably adds me to your LibDem mailing list will actually add my signature to a last ditch attempt to prevent Sorting Office closure. I found the process unwieldy and suggest you add a date to all items as I could have ended up trying to sign up to the 2012 petition.