Court case involving York post office gets go-ahead

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HUNDREDS of sub-postmasters around the UK have been granted the right to take legal action against Post Office Limited.

Yesterday, a Group Litigation Order was granted by the High Court in London on behalf of sub-postmasters who were instructed to use a new computer system to record day-to-day financial transactions, but required to pay any shortfall out of their own pockets.

The claim states the shortfalls ranged from hundreds to thousands of pounds, and were errors made by the system, causing “significant financial loss and hardship, bankruptcy”, and in some cases jail for some sub-postmasters.

Last month, The Press told how postmistress Wendy Martin closed her shop in Crichton Avenue in Clifton after the stress brought on by the Horizon system.

Speaking yesterday, she said she was “confident we will win this case”, and urged anyone affected who had not already contacted Freeths to do so.

She said: “There’s been massive stress for the last two years and that’s not finished yet because the case is not concluded, but I would rather be on this side of the fence having closed down the office and not dealing with daily pressures and working with a faulty system.

“I’ve been left probably £30,000 in debt but I had to make a decision rather than working on a faulty system and paying financial penalties, to close the office and leave myself in debt or risk carrying on with the faulty system and ending up in court.”

James Hartley, the partner at legal company Freeths, is leading the case, and said: “This is a very good day for the sub-postmasters who have suffered real hardship.

"The process has begun to get justice for them and to hold the Post Office accountable for their actions. We urge any sub-postmasters who have not yet come forward to do so before the deadline of July 26.”

Alan Bates of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) said there was “overwhelming evidence” of the Post Office’s system failure. Any sub postmaster who worked for the Post Office since 1999 and who experienced issues with the Horizon software can go to poclaims.co.uk email poclaim@freeths.co.uk or phone 0800 3047727.