WITNO0340115
WITNO0340115
Letter to Branches
For instant updates: http//:www.cwu.org —_ email: infodgRelouaat
150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX Tel AMON Fax: HUBRIS OIE
General Secretary: Dave Ward
No: 534/15 Ref: 100 Date: 18 August 2015
TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS
Dear Colleague
POST OFFICE: PANORAMA BROADCAST - “TROUBLE AT THE POST OFFICE”
Further to LTB 533 dated 17" August.
No doubt Branches and members will have been shocked by the revelations in last
night’s Panorama show - “Trouble at the Post Office”. In this regard, please see the
following press release which we have issued this morning. The press release
summarises our position in calling for a full judicial inquiry and ultimately justice for
Postmasters. The Post Office needs to come clean in respect of the way it has treated
hard-working Postmasters who are evidently victims of injustice.
Press Release - CWU Demands Justice for Postmasters
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has repeated its demands for direct
government action and a full judicial inquiry into the Post Office's “outrageous”
treatment of hard-working Postmasters.
In a hard-hitting report for the BBC’s Panorama programme last night, investigative
journalist John Sweeney probed cases of people having been prosecuted, and in some
cases imprisoned, solely on the basis of questionable computer data indicating cash
shortfalls.
Andy Furey, the union's national officer for Post Office workers, said: "BBC viewers
across the nation, many of them Post Office customers, will have been shocked by the
harrowing stories of Postmasters being prosecuted by the Post Office on accusations of
‘theft’ with apparently zero evidence of any actual money being taken.”
Sweeney looked at three case studies of Postmasters in different parts of the country -
in Anglesey, Hampshire and Surrey - who each said that they had experienced
difficulties with the ‘Horizon’ computer accounting system, but had been blamed, and
prosecuted, by the Post Office for the apparent ‘cash shortfalls’ that the system had
indicated.
In two of the three cases, the individuals had been sentenced to imprisonment for the
alleged ‘offence’ - despite no actual money having ever been discovered, or any real
evidence put forward against them.
“If what the three Postmasters said in the programme is accurate, then it’s really quite
shocking that people can be treated in this way - and the Government must now
urgently intervene to ensure that the Post Office doesn’t attempt to sweep these
problems under the carpet,” Andy insisted.
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBEF
Facebook: Dave Ward CWU I @DaveWardGS
WITNO0340115
WITNO0340115
The CWU has consistently called for action on this issue, which has also been raised on
several occasions by Members of Parliament - in particular the former North Hampshire
MP James Arbuthnot, who featured on last night’s programme and called for the chief
executive of the Post Office to resign.
Last month, in response to questions on this matter in the House of Commons, Prime
Minister David Cameron admitted that the Post Office’s own internal inquiry into the
affair had “not satisfied many Members on both sides of the House who have seen
individual constituency cases and want better answers.”
Mr Cameron went on to say that he would instruct one of his Ministers to convene a
meeting of key stakeholders to “discuss their concerns and see what should happen
next” and that he hoped “it would not be necessary to have a full independent judicial
inquiry to get to the bottom of this issue, but get to the bottom of it we must.”
Commenting on the issue, CWU deputy general secretary Terry Pullinger said: “The
Prime Minster is quite right to say that the Post Office’s own inquiry has been
unsatisfactory - but a meeting of stakeholders will not resolve this matter.
“There must be a full judicial inquiry and the whole culture of the Post Office needs to
change. The Post Office is part of the fabric of this country and the CWU is more
determined than ever to challenge the Government and the Post Office to grow and
restore confidence in this much-cherished institution.””
Ends
Notes to editors:
The CWU has around 200,000 members and is the largest union in the UK postal
industry, representing employees of the Post Office, Royal Mail, BT and other postal,
telecoms and financial services companies
Last night’s BBC Panorama programme can be viewed on BBC IPlayer here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0675m1j/panorama-trouble-at-the-
post-office
Branches are encouraged to use this press release with your local media contacts.
Further developments will be reported.
If
ou have any questions in relation to this LTB, please contact Lea Sheridan -
Yours sincerely
Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBEF
Facebook: Dave Ward CWU @DaveWardGS