A COMPETITION which allows people to recommend their post office for a national award of excellence has been labelled as 'bitterly ironic'. Post Office Ltd (POL) is encouraging Welwyn Hatfield residents to nominate their local branch for the 2009 Best Pos

A COMPETITION which allows people to recommend their post office for a national award of excellence has been labelled as "bitterly ironic".

Post Office Ltd (POL) is encouraging Welwyn Hatfield residents to nominate their local branch for the 2009 Best Post Office Award.

A POL spokeswoman said: "The People's Post Office Awards give everyone the opportunity to tell us which outlets offer the very best customer service."

But Dr Dennis Lewis believes one of the strongest contenders for the award - the Handside branch - has already closed.

Dr Lewis described the situation as a "bitter irony", and said: "Handside post office has already won awards in the past for courteous service and efficiency and what do POL do? - they go and close it."

He added: "How many other efficient and friendly post offices have been closed who would have been strong contenders to win this award?"

Richard Edlin, who managed Handside post office before it closed, blasted the competition as "another PR exercise from POL", but added with a smile: "Let's vote for the best post office that was closed - it would be interesting to see how many votes we get and what the POL response would be."

* The WHT agrees with Dr Lewis that the Handside branch would have been a strong contender for the Best Post Office Award 2009.

We would urge all readers who miss the post office to nominate it for the award.

But please vote for your own Times Territory favourite if you have one.

Voting forms are available from your local post office, or you can vote online at www.bestpostoffice.co.uk