Back in September this blog, Subrosa and others highlighted the stealth closure of crucial parts of the 200 year old British Forces Post Office – the on-base Postal Service for our servicemen.

The initial measure is to save £1.76M by withdrawing BFPO services to NATO HQs.  As part of Planning Round 09, this will result in the closure of 12 offices. The implications are far-reaching – setting aside the difficulties with mail, etc, not having a BFPO number will make life very difficult for anyone posted abroad. For example, a BFPO address confirms family identity as UK taxpayers whilst living abroad; it is recognised by banks and other financial institutions and allows security clearance vetting to be carried out on family members who need it much more swiftly and accurately.

In addition to losing the mail, the Post Office counter services will also disappear, leaving personnel and families to converse with the local civilian post office staff using the local language. Interestingly, it is ONLY NATO HQs which have been singled out for this treatment, thus generating a two-tier system with those ‘former BAOR’ units still having BFPO, while those in NATO have nothing.  This is the thin end of a very sensitive wedge – if NATO HQs go meekly it’ll be the others next.

The places affected in this first tranche are:
BFPO 6   Lisbon Portugal
BFPO 8   Naples Italy
BFPO 26   SHAPE Belgium
BFPO 28   Brunssum Holland
BFPO 49   Brussels Belgium
BFPO 50   Stavanger Norway
BFPO 61   Milan Italy
BFPO 62   Valencia Spain
BFPO 63   Norfolk VA
BFPO 65   Rome Italy
BFPO 109   Ramstein Germany
BFPO 150   Karup Denmark

Rumours are circulating of a reprieve for BFPO 8 but that’s as good as the news gets.

There is a petition on the No10 website about this which has attracted a splendid 49,270 signatures. We all know that these petitions are only of limited value but it would be a significant morale boost for the campaign to hit the 50,000 mark. Please help them do it, and if you have a blog and an interest in such matters then consider posting on this to give it a push.