The machine needed to renew vehicle licences at The Avenues Shopping Centre Post Office has been offline for an extended period and residents are no longer willing to tolerate the inconvenience caused.
Springs resident Jakkie de Lange says the machine has been out of order for more than two months.
He had a back operation and couldn’t drive to the offices in Plantation Road, and so he chose to walk to the Post Office.
Taking several trips to from Ninth Street to the Post Office caused him great discomfort, but he had to renew his vehicle licence.
He eventually had to ask someone to take him to the metro offices to renew the license.
“I was lying flat on my back in the car,” he says.
De Lange says every time he went to the Post Office he heard the same excuse from the staff: “The machine is still not working”.
Paul Fouché, regional manager of the SA Post Office, says the motor vehicle licence equipment in post office branches is the property of the Department of Transport.
The Post Office immediately reported the problem with the renewals printer in the Post Office branch in the shopping centre, on the day it went out of order.
He says they are waiting for the spare parts for the printer and as soon as the parts are available, the printer will be fixed.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience of the customers in Springs,” says Fouche.
He recommends the residents use the Strubenvale Post Office branch for renewals.