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.
About 430 staff at the office in Cowley were briefed by senior Royal Mail managers 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 mail posted to addresses 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."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article