Sorting office to close (From Banbury Cake)

Sorting office to close

8:40am Thursday 25th June 2009

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THE Oxford Mail Centre will close at the weekend, ending a history of sorting post in Oxford that dates back more than 350 years.

Back in 1635 Charles 1 appointed Thomas Withings as Postmaster General in the city, stipulating that the London-Bristol mail coach should run through Oxford.

Now Royal Mail is moving its Oxford sorting operation from Oxford Science Park to Swindon. The Reading sorting office is also closing, with the three centres combined into one.

Royal Mail said that of the 450 workers at the centre, 224 had taken voluntary redundancy, 92 had relocated to Swindon, 67 had left the company, five reached retirement age and one opted for a career break.

Bob Cullen, of the Communication Workers Union, said: “There is no doubt the move is caused by union-bashing.”

He added: “Its a sad week. I have been here 23 years but will leave on Friday.”

Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall denied that the closure was union bashing. He said the £90m reorganisation was due to falling mail volumes as emails take over from letters in envelopes.

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