Hundreds may have repaid Post Office shortfalls, ex-postmaster says

A former sub-postmaster says hundreds of people may have used their own money to repay shortfalls to avoid Post Office prosecution.

Bob Child, 79, who ran a post office in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, said he personally repaid £600 when the books would not balance 20 years ago.

He remembered getting calls from other sub-postmasters who were worried about the same financial issues.

He said at the time he had not made the link to the introduction of Horizon.

"When we did the books with a pen and paper, you'd occasionally be a few pounds over or under, but nothing much," he said.

"In about 2002, a few years after Horizon was introduced, we had a shortfall of £600. I couldn't understand and repaid it with my own money."

Mr Child, who is now retired and living in Little Downham near Ely, added: "At the end of the day, your contract said you had to make good.

"I would say there must be hundreds of people out there who never went to court because they used their own money to make it up."

He said friends who ran other post offices would call him to tell of similar problems.

"When Horizon came in, we used to cash up on a Wednesday," said Mr Child.

"Postmasters were ringing me up at eight o'clock on a Wednesday night, saying, 'Bob, I've got a problem. I can't balance my books. I'm £300 in arrears. What am I going to do?'"

More than 900 workers across the country were prosecuted after faulty software wrongly made it look like money was missing from their branches.

Their case is back in the spotlight following the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

Victims of the Post Office scandal have been promised swift exoneration and compensation by the government.

Mr Child told the BBC: "It was puzzling but at the time, no-one questioned the system. Funnily, it was always a shortfall. I've never heard of anyone being over."

He said he wondered what had happened to the money he repaid.

"My understanding is that it went into a suspended account," he said. "Then after two or three years, it moved into Post Office accounts."

Mr Child said using the Horizon system was often problematic.

"From the time it came in, it was so slow," he said. "It could take hours to cash up - much longer that when we did it on paper."

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