Popular postmaster, Iqbal Mohammed, has reached a major milestone running Livingston Village Post Office in West Lothian for 30 years.
To mark the occasion Iqbal was presented with a Post Office 30 Years’ Long Service Award by Post Office Area Manager Brian McNaughton.
Iqbal has run shops in the Livingston area since 1975. The opportunity arose in 1995 to take on Livingston Village Post Office with his wife Zahida. So, the couple are very well known in the area.
They modernised the newsagents and convenience store and Zahida worked on the retail side for most of that time, until she sadly she passed away in October.
At first their oldest daughter Shazia worked in the family business and their younger daughter, Nadia, is also Post Office trained. Now they also employ local people.
Iqbal will forever be grateful to a former neighbour, John and Ella Gilbert, as John had just retired as a long-serving postmaster in Armadale. He really helped them to quickly settle into the role of running a Post Office with all of the required knowledge of products and services.
Postmaster Iqbal Mohammed said: “The best thing about being a postmaster is that I enjoy meeting people and everyone knows me. They cared when my wife died as Zahida had been a big part of this shop and we loved helping the community. We got to know people really well and we have enjoyed conversations and a laugh with customers. My wife would often give sweets to little kids coming into the shop.
“We managed to keep the Post Office and shop open throughout the pandemic, even though Zahida had underlying health conditions, as we wanted to maintain vital services to our village.”
Post Office Area Manager, Brian McNaughton, said: “I want to really thank Iqbal for being the postmaster for Livingstone Village for the past three decades. He and his late wife, Zahida, who was also a lovely person, have been at the heart of this community and have enriched the lives of people living in the village for a long time or new people who have moved to the community with the extra housing built.”