POL00069523
POL00069523
" Stephen Dilley
«rom: cath.oglesby._
Sen 01 October 2006 17:12
To: Stephen Dilley
Subject: Re: Marine Drive Appeal
Stephen,
Re previous e-mail.
I have looked through all my documents and managed to find the e-mail you refer to from John Jones and my
reply.Sorry, I couldnt recall it, but here it is.
Regards,
Cath.
Forwarded by Cath Oglesby/e/POSTOFFICE on 01/10/2006 16:10 -----
Cath Oglesby
To: John H Jones/e/POSTOFFICE@E.
25/06/2004 17:14 ce:
Subject: Re: Marine Drive Appeal(Document link: Cath Oglesby)
John,
Answers to your questions:
(i) Mr Castleton said that individual balancing wouldn t work in his office as it was only two positions.I explained
the benefits of doing this i.e.accountability, he didnt understand how to adapt the office into individual tills.1
offered help.He said that as there was really only him and Chrissie(full time assistant) most of the time and Ruth a
part timer and he trusted them , there wasnt much point.He also said towards the last few weeks that the staff
were frightened of going in the safe to get cash out in case they were thought of taking it.
When I suggested that he needed to look at all possibilities not just the computer he got very upset and said that
he trusted the staff 100% and it couldnt be them taking the money. He said that all the Post Office think is that
someone is taking the money.
He kept insisting that it was the computer and that when it all came to light "heads would roll " for all the
sleepless nights and stress they had been under.
I suggested daily snapshots to check the cash against.This was done several weeks into the losses.When asked
why he didnt do these earlier, he just said things like, we were checking transaction logs until eleven o clock at
night, we were under so much stress, we were sick with worry.
When he said it was the days when he remmed stock in that the cash seemed to go wrong, so it must be the
software for that program, I suggested that he check the invoice during the day, but not enter anything onto the
system.Then at close of business complete a snapshot and check the cash.Then enter the stock and repeat the
snapshot.Just to prove or disprove his theory.He never did this.When asked why.He said that Chrissie had been
on hoilday after I suggested it and he never got chance.
(ii) I suggested to Lee that during that week he had a surplus and that what I thought had happened was , on the
Wednesday he had produced a snapshot to see how much cash he should have had.I suggested that he then
declared the exact amount of cash on that snapshot , to give him a "perfect " balance, he did not declare his
actual cash on hand.He looked a bit puzzeled at this and looked at the snapshots and cash decs.He could not
explain it and said he couldn t remember.I asked him and Chrissie who had written on the cash decs, as they
must have know about the surplus during the week. They both looked puzzeled, Chrissie thought one might have
been hers, they were not sure.I asked who would normally finish off and complete the days work.They said that
Chrissie would.
(iii)It was more the losses making good rather that error notices we discussed.When the losses had been rolled
for those first few weeks, I told him that this couldn t continue, and could he make them good?The amounts had
reached £8k.Lee said that he couldnt afford to make these good, so I told him to contact the helpline and ask for
a hardship form.He did do this, and the first amount was transfered into the suspense account.As the losses
continued the hardship form that had been sent wasnt any good.At interview when I asked him about making the
loss good and being his responsibility, he wouldnt answer directly but said lets see how this all comes out as the
money must be in the system somewhere.
POL00069523
POL00069523
John H Jones
To: Cath Oglesby/e/POSTOFFICE@
25/06/2004 09:40 cc:
Subject: Marine Drive Appeal
Cath
I would be grateful if you could answer a number of questions regarding the events pre appeal for the Marine
Drive branch.
(i) What reasons did Mr Castleton give for not taking any preventative measures that you had advised him of
when incurring such account discrepancies.
(ii) What reasons did Mr Castleton provide for the snapshot discrepancies in C/a 47 show a surplus all week
except on the Wednesday when an exact match was declared.
(iii) When you asked Mr Castleton about making error notices good, what was his response.
many thanks
John
John Jones
Area Development Manager
_--Post. Office Ltd
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