New Post Shop raises ire of the disabled

Red-faced officials at New Zealand Post have been forced to redesign a Blenheim Post Shop only weeks after a major overhaul, following a whole raft of complaints from disability groups.

The revamped post shop was opened at the end of March but workmen will soon rip some of the work out again for a more user-friendly makeover.

Blenheim has a larger proportion of elderly residents than most other centres, and ever since the new post shop opened seven weeks ago mobility scooter riders, wheelchair users, and even mums with prams, have slammed the changes as "just ridiculous".

They said a reduction and narrowing of the number of aisles has led to "chaos" with people simply unable to manoeuvre in confined spaces.

"It is a classic example of society disabling people," said Blenheim mobility scooter-user Lynne Nicholl.

"Because there is no legal requirement under current building codes they didn't even need to consider us. If they had it would have saved us a lot of trouble and them a lot of expense."

Marlborough deputy mayor Jenny Andrews, who is also chairperson of Marlborough District Council's Access and Mobility Forum, said "a large number of complaints" had been received from disability groups over the width of the aisles.

Even the disabled counter itself was proving a problem - when someone in a chair or scooter is at the counter they block the aisle for other customers wanting to exit.

New Zealand Post said it would not make public the cost of the renovations, which were expected to be completed by mid-June, or the latest alterations because it was considered "commercially sensitive".

 

 

 

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