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."
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