Post Office scandal: In debt Sheffield postmaster calls for immunity from prosecution until Horizon scrapped

A Sheffield sub-postmaster says his business and sanity are under threat as the defective Horizon IT system continues to post unexplained losses.

Nasar Raoof owes £2,300 due to issues in the last six months. It comes after £10,000 was written off following a traumatic six-month investigation which found he had no case to answer, he said.

Mr Raoof - who paid £70,000 to buy the franchise for Banner Cross Post Office three years ago - said the suspicion and loss of trust was taking a heavy toll on him and his three staff. 

But he has been told he is stuck with Horizon until at least 2025, after court cases and compensation claims conclude, so bosses can gain a full understanding of its faults.

The system was developed by Fujitsu and implemented in 1999 but quickly led to accounting discrepancies. The Post Office blamed 3,500 sub-postmasters. Some 700 were prosecuted and 236 jailed. The scandal hit the headlines after ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office earlier this month.

Mr Raoof said he was at his wits’ end and called for the threat of prosecution to be lifted until Horizon is scrapped.

He added: "It’s still producing errors every other day. The figures are all over the place and we are expected to work with it until 2025 at least. But if we can’t trust it why are we working with it?"

Mr Raoof said he spent £2,500 on CCTV to prove staff weren’t stealing money. But one quit because of the stress.

He added: "It’s made me doubt the people I’m working with. If it wasn’t for the camera we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on when losses crop up."

Horizon is still a huge national issue, he added, with more than 800 people in a Facebook group called ‘Voice of sub-postmasters’ reporting similar problems - including 17 in Sheffield.

Meanwhile, trade at his branch has dropped as customers stay away due to the negative publicity. Today, the post office element is loss-making and is propped up by a shop selling cards, gifts and stationery. Mr Raoof revealed after all his outgoings - including soaring rent and bills - he makes less than minimum wage.

He added: "When I paid £70,000 to be a sub-postmaster they never said I would be working with a broken system. Alan Bates and the other cases are out in the open but we are still here facing the misery."

He called on the Post Office to offer more support and a bigger cut of income to keep the business afloat.

A Post Office spokesperson said: "We are very sorry to hear the experiences of our postmaster for Banner Cross Post Office. We visited twice in October and also in December. As part of these visits, we made suggestions around how he might improve the operational processes in the branch and also offered to arrange a visit from one of our field trainers to refresh both himself and his colleagues on these processes.

"We have, and will continue, to speak regularly with our postmaster to understand what additional support he might need to resolve existing discrepancies as quickly as possible and how he might avoid future discrepancies occurring."

On the future of the Horizon system, the spokesperson added: "There have been several versions of Horizon since its introduction in 1999 and the current version of the system, introduced from 2017, was found in the group litigation to be robust, relative to comparable systems.

"We continue to work with our postmasters to identify and invest in improvements. Current postmasters who have concerns about today’s Horizon system are encouraged to raise these with us - including directly with their area manager - so that we can help.

"It has been our long-stated intent to replace Horizon with a new cloud-based system for a number of years. Around 250 serving postmasters are helping make sure the system is fit for the future with an effective and efficient roll-out across the network."

On Mr Raoof's prosecution fears, the spokesperson said: "Post Office has not undertaken any private prosecutions related to Horizon since 2015 and has no intention of doing so. In cases of suspected criminal activity, evidence is referred to the relevant law enforcement agency.

"The Horizon system was first introduced from 1999. Prosecutions in which Horizon evidence may have featured took place between 1999 and 2015."