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Royal Mail sorting will move
7:00pm Friday 16th May 2008
Comments (16)More than 400 Royal Mail workers today received final confirmation the Oxford Mail Centre would close as the company shifts its sorting operation to Swindon.
Around 430 staff at the office in Cowley were briefed by senior Royal Mail bosses about the closure more than seven months after Royal Mail signalled its intention to move to a £20m facility in Swindon.
Building work at the new site is expected to be completed this summer with the full transfer of operations from Oxford to be completed by summer 2009.
The announcement ends any hopes the workers had of saving the centre and means from now on even mail posted to address within Oxfordshire will be sorted in Wiltshire.
However, Royal Mail denied the switch would lead to a second class postal service for Oxford. Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall said: "Delivery and collection operations across the Swindon and Oxford postcode areas will not be affected as a result of this change."
"We believe moving work from Oxford to our extended facility in Swindon, which will be equipped with the latest technologies, will enable us to address an urgent need to improve the reliability of the mail services for our customers in the OX postcode area."
Your Say YourOxford Mail
Mr Ison, England says...
8:56pm Fri 16 May 08
What a farce, Oxford says...
9:03pm Fri 16 May 08
Mr Ison, England says...
9:20pm Fri 16 May 08
That and ministers taking cash for policy.
The Royal Mail of today is very different from that of yesteryear.
People and expectations are the same.
Mupsey, Abingdon says...
11:01pm Fri 16 May 08
How long would it have taken if it was sent to Swindon possibly about 8 weeks no doubt!
To cap it all they put a £1 surcharge on the letter obviously towards the diesel to send to Oxford and back to Abingdon!
Our post is delayed now God knows what it will be like going via Swindon!!!
Mr Ison, England says...
12:01am Sat 17 May 08
How Funny, Oxon says...
7:19am Sat 17 May 08
Serves the lazy striking muppets right. So where they all going to ruin next, BMW won't have them back, my bet is they're all going to become bus drivers, so within six months public transport in Oxford will cease to function as drivers go on strike because an inspector asked one of their members to finish his tea and get on his bus which was already ten minutes late. Thankfully after six months intensive counselling the union member is now just about able to drink a cup of tea again and is hopeful of returning to work within the next decade.
Serves the lazy striking muppets right.
So where they all going to ruin next, BMW won't have them back, my bet is they're all going to become bus drivers, so within six months public transport in Oxford will cease to function as drivers go on strike because an inspector asked one of their members to finish his tea and get on his bus which was already ten minutes late.
Thankfully after six months intensive counselling the union member is now just about able to drink a cup of tea again and is hopeful of returning to work within the next decade.
Gel, Nr Wantage says...
7:49am Sat 17 May 08
Jongo, Oxon says...
8:13am Sat 17 May 08
Peter, Oxford says...
9:55am Sat 17 May 08
Read the full story of the strike here because the Oxford Mail are too gutless to publish it but were quick enough to slate the Postal workers.
http://www.iwca-oxfo
rd.org.uk/cgi-bin/ox
iwca.pl?record=11
ken, abingdon says...
1:52pm Sat 17 May 08
Mr Ison, England says...
3:04pm Sat 17 May 08
BK, Bicester says...
4:40pm Sat 17 May 08
What a farce wrote:That's right, because people in Oxford will only be sending letters to other people in Oxford wont they??!! Surely it is irelevant where it is sorted as the post is then sent all over the world!
So, exactly how is this mail being taken to Swindon? Ah yes on the A420 of course in a fleet of hundreds of lorries belching out fumes and clogging the roads. So lets get this right, the goverment is telling us all to cut our carbon footprints and the Post office has decided that collecting all Oxfords mail, driving it to Swindon to be sorted, and then driving it back is a sensible cost effective way to work. What a complete bunch of incompetant cretins they are.Mind you, pretty soon there won\'t be any letters to deliver with the way they are closing down post offices. No wonder these idiots are loosing so much money.
Dave, Oxford says...
11:29am Mon 19 May 08
On the bright side a strike in the new sorting office would be even more effective and shut down an even larger area.
Mark Excell, Carterton says...
10:48am Thu 17 Jul 08
Postman Pat, Manchester says...
11:00pm Fri 15 Aug 08
Liverpool where told when they had there wildcat strike they would be punished oh look there closing down.
London West(paddington) went on a wildcat strike now there be punished as there office is closing and work being moved to London Central
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Commie waiter, Abingdon says...
8:00pm Fri 16 May 08