Penrith Town Council has thrown its weight behind a campaign to prevent the renewal of tax discs and driving licences being withdrawn from Post Offices.
Earlier this year, the National Federation of Sub Postmasters reported that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) would be ending its contract with the Post Office on March 31 2024.
At present, the Post Office handles over six million DVLA transactions every year, with more than half being paid for in cash over the counter — these include renewal of road tax discs and driving licences.
If the contract is lost, purchasing DVLA services will move online and the National Federation of Sub Postmasters has called on the Government to reverse its decision to remove DVLA services from the Post Office network.
At a meeting last Monday, town councillor Valerie Bowen said: “This will be a great disadvantage to many people, particularly in a community like ours.
“Yes, lots of people will say they have got internet access, but what they mean is they can access the internet on their phone and that is not sufficient to fill in any sort of application form.
“So it will discriminate against people who are digitally disadvantaged and, I might be stereotyping here, but it will generally be the older members of the population.”
In addition, Mrs Bowen said it would not only reduce business at the post office, it would also reduce footfall in Penrith as a whole because when people go in to do a transaction such as this at the post office they also go and spend money elsewhere in the town.
It was agreed that a strong letter of protest would be written by Penrith Town Council to the DVLA and to Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport, urging them to reconsider their decision not to renew the contract for DVLA services with the Post Office.
They will also be asked to explain how digitally excluded residents are expected to meet their legal obligations with regard to driving licences and road tax.
A DVLA spokesman said: “The Post Office currently provide a limited range of DVLA’s services and an extension to the current contract has recently been agreed until March 31 2024.
“We want our customers to be able to access our services as quickly and as easily as possible, and the role of front office counter services will form part of the considerations of any future service offerings.”
