Post office to close for refurbishment

THE Post Office is to close its branch at Blackness Road for refurbishment.

Following the improvement work, the branch will reopen on Monday November 14, offering a modernised service at a low-screened, openplan style service point.

Customers will be able to access a range of Post Office are now bringing up Debbie’s children.

“We worry that we are getting older when we know we need to be here long enough to make sure Debbie’s children are grown up and safe.”

He said one of the hardest things was knowing what to tell Debbie’s children.

“Nobody is giving us any guidance or advice,” said Davie.

“Nobody is helping us to guide our grandchildren through this.

“We really don’t know how aware they are of what happened to their mum.

“We talk about her not being here but they haven’t yet asked us the hardest question — what happened to her?

“One day we know they will ask and at that time we will need to find a way to tell them the truth.”

Loraine, 55, says there are no groups in Dundee for people in the same position as themselves to get together to talk about what happened.

“That would help such a lot but that’s just not available.

“People who haven’t gone through this just can’t understand,” she said.

“We want people in positions of authority to open their eyes to what happens to families and particularly the children when a parent dies of drugs misuse.

“It’s a hard subject to tackle and and mail services, including special delivery, local collect, home shopping returns, online banking cash deposits and withdrawals.

To allow the refurbishment work to take place, the branch will close temporarily from 1pm on Thursday November 3.

During the closure, customers can access Post Office it’s not particularly fashionable but it is the children and other family members who are left behind to try to pick up the pieces and move forward.

“Our grandchildren are too young yet to understand.

“They tell us they are fine when we ask them. But how do we really know what they are going through.

“People in our situation in Dundee need help and support and right now we don’t know where to go to get that.”

The figures show that 26 of the drug death victims in Tayside in 2015 had children, which resulted in a total of 56 individuals losing a parent.

More than half of those individuals were under 16.

Caroline Snowden, senior health intelligence analyst for NHS Tayside, said in her report into drugs deaths in Tayside that there had been recent progress made in dealing with children who were affected by parental drug misuse.

She said: “The Child Concern Pathway created in 2014 continues to be followed ensuring that services are notified of any child or young person affected by a drug death.

“Appropriate support is made available if not already in place.”

She added: “Local alcohol and drugs partnerships (ADPs) have commissioned services to support children and young people impacted by parental substance misuse.

“Children’s services are embedded in the recovery process with ADPs.” services at Perth Road Post Office and Dundee Post Office.

Post Office area manager Damian Mulholland said: “We are making it easier for customers to get their cash, send and collect their mail and do their banking because we know how important these services are to local residents.”

He added: “We’re confident that this vibrant newstyle post office at the heart of the community will meet customer needs.

“This modernisation is part of a major investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office and will secure services for the future.”