‘OUR BUSINESS WENT DOWNHILL, WE LOST OUR HOME, WE LOST EVERYTHING. THE POST OFFICE IS A SHAMBLES...’
Couple caught up in the Horizon scandal say they were shunned by the village after being accused of stealing tens of thousands of pounds despite doing nothing wrong.
A COUPLE have told how they lost their home, reputation and health after becoming victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Geeta and Charanjit Doal, were among many sub-postmasters caught out by the faulty computing system.
They, like others, experienced shortfalls in their accounts due to the problematic IT software. The pair say, as a result, they were ‘shunned’ by their local community and had to sell their family house in an attempt to pay back tens of thousands of pounds they supposedly owed the Post Office due to the glitch.
The situation left 42-yearold Geeta feeling suicidal. She said: “Our business went really downhill, we lost our home, we lost everything. It’s difficult to put a price on things. The Post Office is a shambles.
“I think [former chief executive officer of Post Office] Paula Vennells should get a prison sentence. It’s unbelievable. I want everyone to know how awful it was.”
The scandal was brought to the attention of the vast majority of the nation thanks to ITV’S docudrama Mr Banks vs the Post Office. Behind the characters expertly portrayed were real people whose real lives were turned upside down through no fault of their own. Between the years 2000 and 2014, 736 blameless people were prosecuted by the Post Office, their lives ripped apart by bankruptcy, prison time, and reputational ruin.
Geeta and 49-year-old Charanjit first took over the award-winning Hollies Village Store in Wheaton Aston, near Stafford in 2006. The business on Long Street was awarded several Community Heroes Awards, Retailer of the Year more than once, and fundraised over £3,000 for Cancer Research UK.
But their nightmare began when they took the Post Office services on in 2014 and noticed discrepancies in the numbers straight away. Geeta and Charanjit notified the Post Office but said nobody took any notice until they stopped offering the service in 2017.
Geeta, aged 42, said: “They didn’t look into it for me. I had to close the Post Office for one week to get some attention.” It was reopened after the Post Office promised to send an auditor to the branch to investigate. The report revealed a loss mounting to tens of thousands of pounds. The Post Office ordered the couple to repay the shortfall which was docked from their wages.
In 2019, an auditor visited again finding further discrepancies. The Post Office suspended the service at The Hollies while an investigation took place.
Geeta said: “During the closure in 2019, we were treated very badly. We’ve been here for a long time and supported so many causes.
“While we were suspended, everything was locked away, all combinations were changed. Our reputation went downhill. People threw things across the counter at us, they were angry.
“The convenience store was quiet but we still had to pay our staff and bills.
We ended up having to sell our house. I want to clear my name,
I want the village to know that we are innocent.”
Still unaware of
the Horizon scandal unfolding, Geeta and Charanjit had an interview two months later. They were represented by the National Federation of Sub Postmasters, an organisation approved by the Post Office.
After no wrongdoing was found, the pair were reinstated and began offering Post Office services again. However, the discrepancies continued and Geeta and Charanjit would spend every night going through their accounts trying to work out where the shortfall had occurred. Geeta continued to be in touch with the Post Office who she said took no action.
She said one evening the figures would balance ‘to the penny’ and the next morning it would be in deficit by hundreds of pounds. The stress caused their health to deteriorate. Geeta said: “Sometimes it would be over, then it would minus it. It was crazy what was going on. It was quite scary.
“At the time, we had two young children and had our family home just the way we wanted it. It was awful to sell it. Luckily, we had a home attached to the shop but it was damp and cold.”
Matters came to a head in February last year when the pair told the Post Office they had four weeks to take the service away. Geeta said: “They said to me I had to wait until July. I said to them I’m not doing it. I was suicidal. They had to take it away.”
Watching the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office was very difficult for the husband and wife. She added: “It was so real. People were treated so badly.
“The lesson we need to learn is that you never know what someone is going through so ask them instead of spreading gossip. It spoils people’s lives.”
Geeta and Charanjit continue to run The Hollies Village Store but haven’t offered Post Office services since last year. As the pair were not convicted, they are at the bottom of the list for compensation payouts.
Geeta said: “I just hope this year will be a better year for everybody and the postmasters can rebuild their lives.”
The Post Office is trying to ‘right the wrongs’ of its past. A spokesperson said: “We fully share the aims of the current Public Inquiry, set up to get to the truth and accountability. We are deeply aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible.
“Both the Post Office and Government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for the people affected. To date, offers of more than £138 million have been made to around 2,700 Postmasters, the majority of which have been agreed and paid. Interim payments continue to be made in other cases which have not yet been resolved.”
We are deeply aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past
A Post Office spokesman