ABANDONED

'First the banks closed and now they've shut the Post Office'... communities left feeling 'isolated' after Mersey branches closed

- By JONATHAN BLACKBURN

COMMUNITIES across Merseyside have been left without a place to manage their money after Post Offices closed suddenly in areas which have already lost all of their banks.

The ECHO this morning reported that Post Offices across Merseyside were shut “until further notice”, including Penny Lane, Woolton, Childwall, Hunts Cross and Croxteth.

Readers have since told the ECHO that Post Offices at Walton Vale, Bootle Watts Lane, and Formby have also closed.

The ECHO visited the Penny Lane branch on Smithdown Road and the Woolton Road branch in Woolton village yesterday and found both shuttered.

Post Office Ltd would not confirm the locations of closed branches or provide a full list of affected sites.

The firm, purchased by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group in April for £3.6bn, cited “operational reasons” for the closures this morning, and is yet to elaborate despite the ECHO’s attempts.

Lucy Antal, 57, walked to Woolton Post Office early yesterday and encountered a “number of bewildered older people outside holding parcels they wanted to post and asking where they could go”.