The quotes that follow were made this morning by our wonderful Postmaster, Colin Cranness. They sum up the feeling in the town perfectly and extremely powerfully, too.
"They say that today, January 21st, is officially the gloomiest day of the year, I think that's very right.
"The weather says it all out there, I think, because Llantrisant has just lost its heart, it lost its heart today. It's literally been ripped out completely.
"We honestly thought we had a very good case but the people who make the decision obviously didn't listen to all the comments that have gone in.
"Judging by the criteria considered when closing a branch, the decision-makers have not taken into account the fact we are on a hill.
"Good luck to the offices that have survived, but the fact is they're on the flat in a town environment. We are on top of a hill which makes access to the alternative post offices extremely difficult.
"We now have no banking cash facilities within the town, pensioners are going to have to hire taxis to go to alternative offices at a cost of £6 per round trip...be that on the Government's head.
"I don't think the views of the businesses that use the town and this post office have been taken into account.
"Over the years we've built up a good clientele for business and personal banking and I know that those customers do not want to go down - then back up - the hill that leads to Talbot Green.
"We all know the parking problems down there, but they're going to have to get in their car and that will cause more congestion.
"I'd like to go on record and personally thank Jane Davidson and her office for everything they've done, they couldn't have done more. I know that Jane is, like me, absolutely gutted by the decision.
"I'd also like to thank Councillor Glynne Holmes who has done so much during the campaign as has Allan Matheson, my Campaign Manager, he's done more than what's required and for that I'm eternally grateful.
"The Town Council have been brilliant in fact everybody that's written, visited this website and who went on the trip to London, I thank.
"After all we've done it makes one wonder if those going through the consultation phase in Gwent should bother protesting because the decision on their offices may already be done and dusted.
"The biggest losers are the people of Llantrisant, I can't stress that enough.
"We're just absolutely gutted it hasn't gone our way."
(Further quotes from Glynne, Allan, Carol and Jenny will be uploaded here, in entries below, later today)
2 comments:
Your cause is a just cause. Will the hearts of the bureaucrats melt?
Dear Colin and Lynne, I have been very saddened by the outcome of your campaign to save your post office. You have all fought so hard for something which is clearly very dear to your community. Your campaign has been truly outstanding and one that you can all be extremely proud of. You deserved to have your post office saved. Reading your comments Colin today, on the final outcome made me feel very sad. As someone who has worked in sub-post offices for 18 years, and is now having to fight a campaign against our office closure, I can understand what this decision will mean to you all.
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