Last mail plane is end of an era for flower seller

The final mail plane delivery will leave the island later following the Guernsey Post announcement in March that all post to the UK would be delivered by sea freight network. Guernsey Post took over provision of the mail plane from Royal Mail in April last year. Guernsey Flowers, which ships cut flowers to the UK, has decided to end its operations as a result, while Guernsey Clematis has shifted their direct orders to boat delivery.

Chief executive of Guernsey Post Steve Sheridan said the end of the plane service was an “economic inevitability” and the company had worked hard to ensure replacement services met customer needs.

General manager of Guernsey Flowers, Jason Brouard said the company would stop trading after the final mail plane left the island on Friday.

“We just don’t find that the [sea] delivery times are good enough for what we need… it’s too long in the box,” he said. The Stan Brouard Group, which also runs a garden centre in the island, bought Guernsey Flowers in 1995 and grew flowers for the company prior to the purchase. In recent years, with the decline of the island’s growing industry, the company had moved to importing flowers from the UK and then exporting them to customers off island.