A former Alderley Edge subpostmaster is fighting to clear his name which he says has been dragged through the mud after being falsely accused of theft.
Scott Darlington was subpostmaster in the village from 2005 to 2010 before losing his job and being prosecuted for a shortfall.
He told alderleyedge.com "A discrepancy occurred in 2008 of £1700 which I had to pay back although I knew something wasn't right. Later on that year larger discrepancies occurred until Jan 2009 when I was audited, suspended and subsequently terminated. It was an absolute nightmare to say the least. I was given a 3 month prison sentence suspended for 2 years."
Along with over 1000 other subpostmasters from across the UK, whose financial records showed shortfalls of varying sums, Mr Darlington has joined the legal action against Post Office Limited.
The Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) argue that this was due to problems with the Horizon IT system used in the subpostoffices, which was responsible for the accounts.
Whilst some of the subpostmasters were asked to make up the shortfalls, which ran into tens of thousands of pounds for some, others had criminal charges brought against them, had to pay fines and were sent to jail.
Alan Bates of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA), which is taking the case said "We're heartened by the number of sub-postmasters now coming forward. We believe this begins to vindicate our long-running campaign for justice and the opportunity for potentially hundreds of subpostmasters to clear their names and reputations and to seek compensation for losses inflicted upon them. Post Office Ltd's behaviour has been a national disgrace.
"Subpostmasters have brought the claim to force Post Office Ltd to accept responsibility for the flaws in its Horizon system, for its refusal properly to investigate accounting shortfalls and for the utterly disgraceful treatment of postmasters who have lost their liberty, livelihood or savings because Post Office Ltd wrongly accused many of them of theft or fraud. As well as a court finding of responsibility, the claimant group will be seeking appropriate financial compensation in respect of loss and damage suffered."
He continued "The subpostmasters are asking for fair redress. They want the Post Office to accept responsibility for its actions over the years, and their refusal properly to investigate alleged shortfalls. They are asking for the Post Office to be held accountable, and for the claimants' financial position to be restored to where it would have been had the Post Office acted properly."
Scott added "This had untold consequences for me. I could not find a job for 3 and a half years. I almost lost my house. I suffered depression etc I was living off virtually no money during this time. I was headline news in the Manchester Evening News and Macclesfield Express.
"I felt everybody in Alderley believed I had been stealing and was so embarrassed by that. I am now living in Bollington and working at last. But this nightmare has continued for 9 years and is finally coming to a conclusion."
The Group Litigation Order (GLO) against Post Office Ltd has been approved by the President of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court, which means that the case will continue through the court as a group action. Freeths are representing the JFSA in their claim against Post Office Ltd, which they are defending.
Comments
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And so having followed their reporting, to my mind, it looks like the Post Office big-wigs started down a road - scenting fraud and theft - and now can't reverse their thinking.
Sure, some MAY* have been up to no good but this should have been more forensically investigated from the start and there should have been an attempt by the management to clear cases early on..
*I'm giving the Post Office the benefit of the doubt as maybe there was fraud in some cases but I'm certainly not suggesting that this happened here.