Post Office: Horizon cost me £75k and my health - ex-postmaster

A former sub-postmaster says he has lost over £75,000 due to the faulty Horizon computer system.

Robin Ennion ran the Post Office in Llandovery for almost two decades and ended up subsidising errors generated by the system.

He estimates his total losses would be "north of £75,000", including his initial investment in the franchise. He quit after suffering a heart attack.

The Post Office said it could not comment on individual cases.

Mr Ennion ran the Post Office in the Carmarthenshire town from December 2000 to September 2018.

He regularly made up for accounting errors generated by the faulty Horizon computer system out of his own pocket, he told the Newyddion S4C programme.

Sometimes the losses totalled a few pounds, but on other occasions the amounts were more substantial.

"The only time that it got a bit serious was in 2018, when I got a £1,100 discrepancy," he said.

"You spend the night going through everything and you can't find it.

"And I just bought everything to zero and I signed off the accounts, and just prayed that the auditors didn't turn up the next day and find this discrepancy."

He paid the money back over the next few days.

Mr Ennion said he destroyed records from his time as sub-postmaster, but estimates they lost their initial investment of around £60,000 and at least another £15,000 correcting errors.

Anne Ennion, Robin's wife, said her husband had to leave his role after suffering a heart attack.

"You can't put money on someone's life. Robin's health was failing quite badly, he had a massive heart attack," she said.

"It was a case of having to pull out for him or he'd have been left in his coffin."

The Horizon Shortfall Scheme is open to anyone affected by the Horizon scandal to make a claim for compensation, even if they no longer have accurate records.

But Jonathan Edwards MP, who represents the Ennions in Westminster, said the scheme was "complicated" and should be made easier for applicants.

Mr Ennion said he does not intend to apply for compensation due to the fear of stress and wariness after past experiences with the Post Office.

He said by speaking out, he hopes others who may have suffered in silence will feel able to come forward.

A Post Office spokesman urged people who had not come forward to do so.

"Offers totalling more than £120m have been made through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, the majority of which have been agreed and paid," he said.

"Interim payments continue to be made in other cases which have not yet been resolved."