MEP hits out at decision to axe mail trains

The end of 170 years of post being moved by train - announced by Royal Mail last Friday - has been widely criticised, and Labour MEP Mr Simpson says that it puts the long-term future of Warrington's two sorting depots and their workers at risk.

Mr Simpson, a member of the European Parliament's transport committee, said: "I am a bit concerned that while they are saying they are going to transfer everything to road, it is going to put so much pressure on the sorting office at Westbrook.

"I am very concerned over the issue of job prospects. We need to get information about what exactly the plans are.

"I have spoken to the people down at Dallam and there is a great deal of uncertainty.

"This is a stupid, short-sighted decision."

Bosses at Royal Mail insist that the decision will not affect jobs at either the new Westbrook distribution centre or the Dallam rail terminal, but Mr Simpson has questioned whether both will be kept in the long term.

"It flies in the face of EU transport policy and British Government transport policy," he said.

"This is a state-run provider, taking a decision that just goes against all the rules.

"I have written to Adam Crozier (Royal Mail chief executive) and Patricia Hewitt (Secretary of State for Trade and Industry) to voice my disquiet over the situation and to get this decision reversed."

The decision has also raised environmental concerns, with fears expressed that scrapping the mail trains will mean more lorries on the roads and hence extra pollution, as one train is the equivalent of 15 lorries.

Mr Simpson said: "They say that there will be no extra road usage, but it seems that they are trying to mislead people."

Mr Simpson's European Parliament colleague, Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, says that the announcement leaves in tatters the Government's pledge to increase the amount of freight moved by rail by 80 per cent over the next 10 years.