Dear Sir                              

From the comments of my customers I am sure you will have received many letters about the Post Office being closed at the Wool Post in Craig-y-don and there are no doubt numerous stories about why Post Office Ltd have terminated the contract under a clause whereby they do not have to give a reason.

In order to help your readers understand the issues I am writing to introduce a number of facts they are probably unaware of.

It is my belief that this all began in October 2000 when the Post Office installed the Horizon computer system. I had worked with a number of these EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) systems over the years before running the Post Office at the Wool Post and knowing what they could really do it seemed to offer an excellent advance.

However it turned out that there was one major fault with this system as it did not allow me or my staff to fully access the data which we had input into the system. It was at this time that Post Office Ltd were alluding that I as Subpostmaster was responsible for the figures generated by the system.  I believe the reason why Post Office Limited terminated the contract stems from here, as I had stated in writing to Post Office Ltd that I was unable to accept financial liability for the figures generated by the Horizon system without full access to the data I (and my staff) had input into the system. This was also restated in my letters to them dated 19th December 2000, 18th July 2001, 13th February 2002 and 16th April 2003.

Not once over the three years did Post Office Ltd ever respond to the point of liability and system access that I had raised either in correspondence or in person. Though in a letter from them dated May 2nd 2003 they go on to say I would be failing to meet my obligation under a section of the contract which states “The Subpostmaster is responsible for all losses caused through his own negligence, carelessness or error, and also for losses of all kinds caused by his Assistants.  Deficiencies due to such losses must be made good without delay”  and which “failure to comply with these obligations can be construed as a Breach of Contract, which could ultimately put your Contract for Service ‘at risk”. 

In my response to Post Office Ltd I informed them that I would gladly make good any losses caused in these manners and reiterated I was unable to accept liability of system figures without access to the data to check it. Taken to an extreme, if the Horizon system said I owed £1,000,000 the Post Office could under their interpretation require me to make good the loss without delay and without question. This is an issue that affects every Subpostmaster in the country as they are all in this situation whether they realize it or not. Subpostmasters are agents and not employees of the Post Office.

It is my stance on this issue which I believe led Post Office Ltd to terminate the contract under a clause not requiring them to state a reason.  From the legal advice I have been given, it would seem that they may fall foul to claims of varying the terms and condition of the contract if they gave any other reason.