John Bull delivers roof-top Post Office demo

Apr 26 2007 By Poppy Brady, Birmingham Mail

THE spectacle of lone demonstrator John Bull decked out in his Union Jack attire greeted people visiting one of Birmingham's busiest Post Office branches today.

The universal campaigner clambered on to the roof of Harborne's High Street post office at 6am to protest at the Post Office's planned closure of 2,500 branches nationwide.

The 69-year-old retired police officer, whose real name is Ray Egan, was up on the roof of another Harborne post office four years ago when plans to close the Princes Corner branch were announced.

Harborne also lost branches at Moor Pool and Harborne Lane in that round of closures.

He said: "I know that the High Street branch is not under threat of closure but the queues here are ridiculous since the other branches were closed in Harborne.

"As a resident I used Princes Corner for more than 40 years, but now I'm forced to wait in a queue that is often out on the street in the High Street branch."

He had many hoots of supports and cheers from shoppers as he sat surrounded by placards in his eight-hour demonstration.

Coun Deirdre Alden, who has long campaigned to save local branches, said: "I can fully understand why John Bull feels as he does.

"Like me, he is a Harborne resident and Harborne has suffered really badly through Post Office cuts. We simply cannot afford to lose any more branches."

But Jane Thomas, a spokeswoman for Post Office Ltd, condemned the protest as "an act of gross stupidity".

She said: "Ironically, he is making his protest at a branch that is not under any threat of closure."