Residents of Smalltown have been forced to stand for long hours as they attempt to reach the counter at Smalltown Post Office.
“I only came here to get a stamp” said Gerry Attrick (74) “and I’ve been waiting in line since Tuesday.”
“It’s ridiculous really. I’ve heard this queue is longer than the one for an appointment at Smalltown and Barrow Surgery on a Monday morning.” Doris Shutt told Somerset Clive.
Your trusty reporter joined the queue on Wednesday afternoon at the behest of SomersetClive editor, Clive Saint, who asked us to “pop out and post this parcel for me”.
At the time the queue snaked around all the aisles in the Post Office and stretched back as far as The George Hotel, but rumours abound that the end of the queue now starts in Dullbridge.
I chatted to the people around me, several of whom had no idea what they were queueing for, but had seen the end and joined in.
“There’s something of a Carnivoo atmosphere here, with everyone determined to see what awaits us when we get there.” Sally Forth told me. “Of course, once you start queuing you can’t stop and it’s quite hard on the legs. I have asked if we could have some chairs but apparently there aren’t any, because Squire Teflon has stolen them all.”
SomersetClive understands that the problem has been caused by an over-sized parcel which has become wedged in the slot on the counter.
A Post Office Spokesperson said “It’s a massive box and it’s completely jammed. We are unable to fully open the counter until we can get it moved, so we are currently down to serving from only one window. Plus everyone is having to squeeze past the box to get out again once they’ve been served.
We have a man coming to look at it but he can’t get here until Monday, but hopefully we will be fully open again by 5pm.”