Jan 22 2008
10 Downing Street
I would like to sincerely thank all those who rallied around and supported my petition protesting against the proposed closure of Fulford Post Office.
The response to the petition, which called on Gordon Brown to halt the ongoing post office closure program and keep post offices like Fulford open, has been simply fantastic. This culminated in Fulford postmaster Aasif Rabbani and myself presenting it to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday January 16th. 
It was essential that we responded swiftly and demonstrated our strength and unity and the full extent of our outrage, anger and frustration at these closure plans. I believe the residents of Fulford and North Yorkshire have sent a strong message to Gordon Brown which shows we will not stand by and let these closures happen.
After presenting the petition to number 10 and following a couple of radio interviews we met up with Charles Hendry the Conservative Shadow minister with responsibilities for Post Offices, at this point the day had gone extremely well but sadly things were about to take a turn for the worst. We arrived at Kings Cross to catch our train back to find that a points failure just outside the station meant no trains were coming in, after standing on the platform for over three hours with hundreds of other frustrated people we final boarded a train and arrived back into York at one o’clock in the morning. However if we save Fulford Post Office it will have all been worth it.
Ellee Seymour travelled to Number 10 with us read more about the day on her blog.
[...] Julian Sturdy is one of many Conservatives who has been campaigning against post office closures. Let’s hope Tories can today win a vote against the government on axing the much needed 2,500 post offices under threat. Even 90 Labour MPs are said to be against it, including seven Cabinet ministers - did you note that, Pat McFadden? And when did you last visit your P.O.? Please share and enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Hello, Julian, good luck to you for being public-spirited enough to stand as a candidate. I got your flyer ‘Yorkmatters’ and was interested to see what you had to say about Post Office Closures. A question for you. What do you think about our M.P.’s role in all this, especially after he voted for their closure recently in the House of Commons?
P.S. I know it is read by hardly anyone (at the moment) but did you realise that there is a debate about these closures at the moment in the Yorkshire Evening Press’s Forum?
Your previous posts were real rubbish, but this is good. This one is brilliant. Your blog is getting really better.