Post Office scandal: Sheffield subpostmistress lost £36K as alleged shortfall took family to 'dark place'

A Sheffield woman has described how the Post Office scandal took her family to a 'dark place' after she was accused of running up a £36,000 shortfall.

Shahnaz Rashid lost her marriage and her home due to the Horizon IT debacle and still suffers from stress-related illnesses as a result of what she has been through.

Ms Rashid was the subpostmistress of Lindsay Avenue Post Office, in Parson Cross, from 2010 until 2016, the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry heard.

She told how she was given five days of classroom training on the Horizon system but there was no training on balancing.

When a Post Office trainer attended the branch there was a £100 shortfall which the trainer was unable to explain even after three to four hours of trying, the inquiry heard.

Auditors took keys and changed alarm code

Ms Rashid was audited in July 2015 and an alleged shortfall of £35,562.10 was identified.

She was asked to make good the losses immediately, despite making it clear to the Post Office auditors that she did not agree she was liable and that she could not pay.

She said she overhead the Post Office regional manager telling the auditor to 'take everything from them'.

The auditors took the keys and changed the alarm code to Ms Rashid's building. Her contract was terminated without notice and she appealed.

Her solicitors requested evidence in respect of the shortfall but Post Office lawyers only presented two documents, which the inquiry heard were inadequate for this purpose.

'Humiliated' and 'frightened' to return

Ms Rashid told how she felt compelled to resign and, five years later, was still unable to access her own premises, despite the fact that she continued to pay the rent under her 20-year lease.

The inquiry heard how she feels 'humiliated' by the Post Office's actions and is 'frightened' to return to the area where her Post Office is located due to rumours suggesting she stole money.

Ms Rashid said: "I was devastated by the Post Office’s accusations and could not believe what was happening.

"I was also highly frustrated that the shortfalls were never properly explained. The actions of the Post Office have taken my family to a dark place."

In a witness statement submitted to the inquiry, Ms Rashid described how she had a career in accounting and finance before becoming a subpostmistress.

Couple borrowed from parents to buy Post Office

She and her ex-husband Imran, with whom she has two sons, used their personal savings and borrowed money from their parents to purchase the Post Office, where she also operated a convenience store.

She recalls initially contacting the Horizon helpline on a regular basis and said in general the advice was to 'make good small shortfalls and that it would "sort itself out"'.

As well as the alleged £36,000 shortfall she was told to repay, Ms Rashid told how the Post Office's actions meant she was unable to resign and lost the chance to receive her leaver's payment of nearly £67,000.

She also lost the £40,000 she invested to take on the premises, she explained, and had to repay the loans from her family and in-laws.

Despite being unable to access the property since the auditors took the keys, she continued to pay rent to the landlord and estimated that as of March 2022 she had paid 'in excess of £39,840 for a premises that I am unable to use'.

Full losses are much greater

She ended up having to go to court in 2021 and paid fees of £4,000 plus £3,000 to be let out of the lease.

"This ongoing dispute and battle with my landlord caused me a lot of ongoing stress, so much so that I was admitted to hospital in 2017 and 2018 and this has not left me even years after," she said.

"This was a direct consequence of the Post Office's actions against me and them terminating my contract."

Ms Rashid also claims she lost £8,800 in rental income from the residential premises attached to the Post Office, and up to £7,500 in earnings during her suspension.

She said: "With all the hardship I have suffered I have nearly gone bankrupt. I defaulted on my mortgage and my family had to move out of our home and move into a property owned by my extended family."

She estimates she repaid around £35,000 in relation to alleged shortfalls, with the 'constant repayments' depleting their income and savings that would have been spent on their children.

The Post Office did not pursue criminal proceedings against Ms Rashid but she said she was 'continually worried that they would do so'.

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted on the basis of data from the faulty Horizon IT system between 1999 and 2015, with some being jailed for false accounting and theft, and many more facing financial ruin.

The scandal, described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history, has recaptured the public attention thanks to the ITV drama Mr Bates v The Post Office.

The public backlash has led to former Post Office boss Paula Vennells handing back her CBE and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promising to bring in a new law to 'swiftly exonerate and compensate victims'.