Post Office challenge to go ahead

Judy Brown is a customer of the Old Town, Hastings branch

A severely disabled woman has been given the go-ahead to seek a judicial review of the decision to close thousands of post offices.

Pensioner Judy Brown, of Hastings, East Sussex, is arguing the 2,500 closures discriminate against disabled people.

Her lawyers argued in the High Court that the government unlawfully exempted the Post Office from equality laws.

The case has been strongly contested by Royal Mail and the Department for Work and Pensions.

The court heard Mrs Brown would be unable to reach other post offices once her local branch, at Old Town, Hastings, closed down.

Some reluctance'

Granting leave to seek a judicial review of the closure decision, Judge Mr Justice Davis said local branches formed an important part of the social fabric of communities.

But he said that whether it was desirable for them to close was not the sole question.

Fair-minded people would recognise that something had to be done when the post office system was losing £4m a week.

The judge said there were forceful arguments against Mrs Brown's case, but he had "with some reluctance" decided to grant permission on the basis that she had "just about enough" grounds for argument.

The court heard that Mrs Brown, of Rock-A-Nore Road, used Old Town post office for banking, paying bills, shopping, correspondence and presents for grandchildren.

Although she was hoping that the Old Town branch would not close, her court action was aimed at making sure future decisions were made fairly and lawfully.

And she claims Business Secretary John Hutton acted unlawfully by exempting the Post Office from laws requiring public bodies to promote equality for the disabled.

Sustainable branches

Michael Fordham QC, for the Post Office, told the court that social need had to be balanced against commercial sustainability.

On a strictly commercial basis, only 4,000 of the countrywide network of 14,000 branches would be sustainable.

A decision had been taken, after full consultation, to close 2,500 - not the 10,000 which would require closure on a purely commercial basis.

The Department for Work and Pensions has pointed out that the Post Office is still bound by the Disability Discrimination Act and had not been exempted from the Disability Equality Duty.

No date has been set for the full hearing of the case.