Duncan Hames for Chippenham

Duncan Hames and the Liberal Democrats have organised a public meeting to find out the reality of the closure of Lowden Post Office on the local residents of Chippenham.

The closure was announced last December and the public consultation period will end on 31st January. The Post Office will then make their decision about the future of Lowden PO and the Post Office could close soon after that.

Hundreds of people in the area have signed Duncan Hames’ petition to keep Post Offices across Wiltshire open. There are significant fears that our older people will be hit hardest by the closure.

In attendance at the meeting on Thursday 17th Jan will be Postwatch, Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Age Concern, the Postmistress and a number of local Councillors. The Post Office have so far declined to attend, but it still promises to be the perfect chance for the voices of our local residents to be heard.

Duncan Hames, the prospective Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham said “I am very disappointed that the Post Office is not prioritising this meeting. It reflects the lack of respect they have for our local communities. This will be a great chance for us all to form a coherent voice against the closure”.

All are welcome to the meeting, which will be held this Thursday (17th Jan) at 18.30 in Kingsley Rd Community Hall, Lowden, SN14 0AS.

There will also be a chance for local residents to have their say in writing. Duncan will be assisting local residents in filling out a consultation form on Saturday 26th Jan from 10-11.30am in the Roman Glass building (close to PO), 10 Audley Rd, Lowden.

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP for Chippenham, yesterday (Tuesday) attended a public meeting of the More Train, Less Strain campaign, based in Bath.

The campaign group aims to challenge the government and First Great Western train company, over their poor standards and high prices, and to push them into providing a better service for passengers.

The group held a ‘Fare Strike’ last year and was successful in gaining more carriages on local services running from Bristol Temple Meads, Bath, Portsmouth, Cardiff and other intermediary stations.

The latest call for action has come following the severe delays and cancellations at the end of 2007 and the drastic fare rises incurred at the start of 2008.

Duncan Hames said: “The service has become so unreliable and expensive that it is putting people off travelling in the environmentally friendly way. We are now in a crazy situation where it can be cheaper to get a taxi than a train on some routes.

“The government and the train companies have a duty of care to their customers that they are not fulfilling. It is not right to expect a passenger to pay over the odds for a train journey, especially when they are often forced into ‘cattle class’ for hours once on board.”