18 Oct 2025
Queues of customers snaked out of the door of St Peter’s Street Post Office last week, as a lack of staff caused a major disruption to services.
The franchise was only able to offer postal services and banking/bill payments, with just two people working – including the manager.
Some customers reported having to wait for almost half an hour to be served as a result.
The former Crown Post Office branch is now operated by independent franchise retail partner Universal Office Equipment Ltd, which runs eight other PO branches, a banking hub and stationery stores across London, Herts and Surrey.
The automated machines which once helped reduce waiting times have been out of order since the takeover in August, although a refurbishment is promised next year.
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper, who fought a campaign to prevent the transformation of the venture into a franchise, said: “The shoddy service is simply not good enough and the blame lies squarely with Post Offices bosses who rushed this change through without any proper planning. Their failure to ensure that the new franchisee had plans in place to recruit enough staff and train them have disrupted valuable services and left customers and new staff members in an invidious position.
“As I’ve said before, the Post Office’s failure to plan increasingly looks like a plan to fail. I’ve already summoned Post Office bosses to St Albans and will press them hard on why they’ve messed up the handover so badly, and why they’re threatening to move the post office away from its current location.”
This week the situation had not improved, with an expected 20 minutes’ waiting time. People queueing on Wednesday morning were told that it was the fault of customers for the lack of staff, as employees had resigned when they were criticised over the poor service.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear that some customers may have had to wait a long time to be served at St Peter’s Street Post Office. This branch is operated by a highly experienced postmaster who already operated a number of successful branches prior to taking on St Peter’s Street.
“As new staff are brought in and get up to speed, we kindly ask that customers bear with us. We know how much people rely on our products and services and it’s a priority for both the postmaster and us to ensure customers are served promptly.”
