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Witness Name: Mr Shane Johnson
Statement No: WITN0264_01
Exhibits: none
Dated: 5 February 2022
THE POST OFFICE HORIZON INQUIRY
WITNESS STATEMENT OF MR SHANE JOHNSON
1, MR SHANE JOHNSON WILL SAY as follows:
INTRODUCTION
1. I am grateful to the Chair to be invited to provide a “human impact” statement,
concerning the physical, psychological, emotional, reputational and financial
consequences to me and my family of being held responsible for shortfalls shown by
the Horizon IT system and Post Office Limited’s actions toward me and my family.
The initial paragraphs below provide a brief summary of my background and provide
context to the detail of the human impact of the Horizon scandal on me and my
family. This statement does not reflect a full account of my experiences or those of
my family and if necessary or required I will provide further witness statement
evidence.
BACKGROUND
Zs I was the subpostmaster at Victoria Road Post Office in Kirkby-in-Ashfield between
October 2003 and September 2014. I lived in the attached accommodation. I
operated a retail business from the premises, namely a small convenience store and
off licence. I employed four assistants.
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3. It was my intention to build the business and remain in the position until my
retirement.
4. ! had finance in place to remodel and completely modernise the store and the post
office. I had huge plans for the business. There was no question in my mind that I
would make a success of the business and I would easily pay back the loans from the
profit I would make.
5. 1 was a single parent and believed this would be provide me with the perfect
work/life balance. I could work around my children, their schooling, earn a decent
living for us and provide them with a happy, bright future.
Training and Support
6. Before I started at my branch, I attended a five-day training course at the Doncaster
central Post Office. I remember there being one trainer and five other people
attending for the training. The room we were in was specifically set up for training
and each of us had our own Horizon terminal.
ie We were shown how to carry out basic transactions such as mail processing, stamp
sales and pension books. At that time, the Post Office did not have responsibility for
cash machines in their branches, so we did not receive any training on them.
8. I understand that the rest of my classmates attended a second week of training
which dealt with more complicated transactions, but I was not invited to that second
week because my branch was not classed as a ‘mail handling’ branch.
9. When I started in my branch, I then had a further six days on the job training. A
trainer came in and helped whilst I was carrying out transactions. The trainer would
step in and help as and when required.
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10. When I took on my branch it originally had an Alliance & Leicester cash machine
which I did not have to do anything with. as it was operated directly by Alliance &
Leicester. It was nothing to do with my branch. When the contract with Alliance &
Leicester expired in June 2007, Post Office Ltd insisted that I take over the contract
via the Bank of Ireland. The terms of my subpostmaster contract meant that I had no
choice in the matter, and I would be responsible for the running of the cash
machine.
1 The Post Office organised the changeover of cash machines. Alliance & Leicester
removed their cash machine on a Friday and the Bank of Ireland arrived with theirs
the following Monday and would be connected on the Tuesday.
12. The Post Office booked a trainer to come into the branch on the Wednesday after
the cash machine was installed. When the trainer arrived on the Wednesday, there
was a connection failure with the cash machine which required an engineer. The
trainer therefore left as he couldn’t carry out the training session.
13. The engineer came the following day and successfully connected the cash machine. I
contacted the Post Office and asked for the training that I had missed. Post Office
told me that there was no one available. However, they arranged to send an
engineer from Leeds who arrived at 6:30pm, when my staff had gone home. The
engineer was not an authorised Post Office trainer and all he could give me was a 10-
minute crash course, which barely covered how to switch the cash machine on and
top it up with cash.
Helpline
14. I contacted the Helpline at least five times a week.
15, Before the Bank of Ireland cash machine was installed, I rarely had any problems
with the Horizon system. My branch was what Post Office would call exemplary.
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16. At the time, Post Office Ltd were rolling out the Bank of Ireland machines. My
branch was one of the first to receive one. As soon as the Bank of Ireland cash
machine was installed, in June 2007, we immediately started experiencing shortfall
problems which the helpline could not assist with at all because they had no
knowledge whatsoever regarding the new cash machines.
Shortfalls
17. In this section, I set out in very brief detail my experience of shortfalls arising from
deficiencies in the Horizon IT System, and Post Office Limited’s actions as a result.
This is only a brief introduction to those matters, in order to provide necessary
context for the explanation of the human impact which follows.
18. ! would estimate that throughout my position in the branch, I paid (or Post Office
deducted) in the region of £50,000.
19. We recorded every shortfall and loss that we experienced as we went along and
backed this up with a corresponding call to the helpline for an "H Reference", so we
could log it.
20. My branch secretary, Rob Jones, had been an auditor with Barclays, so I always took
his advice. He told me to always show my cash holdings. We did this deliberately so
that if we were audited the Post Office could not claim that we had not reported the
shortfalls earlier and could not accuse me of false accounting.
21. Rob Jones also made sure I went with him to National Federation of Sub Postmasters
meetings and conferences, so I was always up to date with news and developments.
We knew what was happening was wrong, but we just did not know why.
22. Within a couple of months of the new cash machine being installed we were
showing a shortfall in the region of £16,000 and visits by the Post Office could not
determine why this was.
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Audit and investigation
23. We were audited on 30 August 2007, which showed a shortfall in the region of
£30,000.
24. We did not receive any notice of the audit, but I had been expecting it for some time,
as we had been continually recording and reporting shortfalls. The visit was
therefore very much Post Office coming to try and pin the shortfall on me once and
for all, given that it had previously been unable to trace the source of the shortfalls.
25. Post Office's auditor was a gentleman called Paul Field, and he came to my branch
with a colleague first thing in the morning. Despite spending all morning carrying
out a thorough audit of everything in the branch, he could not work out how the
alleged shortfall had arisen, other than to say that it could be traced back to the cash
machine.
26. The auditor confirmed to me that because the shortfall was more than £25,000, it
was Post Office's policy to immediately suspend me. However because the auditor
could not work out how the shortfall had arisen, he spent a great deal of time on the
telephone to the Post Office and eventually he came back to say he had spoken to
one of the Directors and I would not be suspended.
27. Following this audit, I received a letter from Andrew Winn, a Post Office Branch
Analyst who had been instructed by the Post Office to investigate my shortfalls.
28. My understanding was that Mr Winn had full access to staff and documents at any
level within the Post Office and he is specifically employed to investigate and resolve
issues on Post Office's behalf.
29. However, even Mr Winn was unable to work out how and why our shortfalls were
accruing. When he wrote to me, he confirmed that he did not think that it was
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worthwhile reviewing all our records following on from the installation of the new
cash machine as he believed that this might make the position worse.
30. As such, whilst I do not know the full extent of any investigation undertaken by Mr
Winn, the Post Office analyst, his letter to me concluded by saying that he felt that it
was appropriate for me to make contact again with the National Federation of
Subpostmasters with a view to agreeing a way forward with the Post Office
31. I understood this to mean that all the Post Office was able to do was to put the onus
on me to try and agree a way forward about something that they could not explain.
About 3 or 4 weeks later the National Federation of Subpostmasters contacted me to
say that Post Office had been in touch with them about my shortfall, which they
were prepared to "split" with me. If I agreed to pay half of the amount, Post Office
Ltd would write off the rest.
32. On the advice of the National Federation of Subpostmasters, I agreed to split the
cost. The arrangement was that I also had to accept any further losses without
question otherwise, the Post Office would remove the cash machine.
33. The revenue from the cash machine was approximately £12,000 per year, and the
indirect revenue was approximately £10,000, so I could not afford to lose the cash
machine. I therefore accepted the proposed arrangement and repaid half of the
shortfall through deductions from my salary at around £1,000 per month.
34, Thereafter, I would estimate that over the next 7 years I made good shortfalls
totalling approximately £35,000 i.e. taking my total to £50,000.
35. Following the audit in August 2007, we had further visits and spot checks with the
Post Office still trying to work out the source of the shortfalls that were continuing
but they could find no fault with what we were doing.
Suspension and Termination
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36. I was not suspended by the Post Office, I resigned in the Spring of 2014. It was either
that or wait to be bankrupted.
37. There was an anomaly in the post office accounts following the closure of the main
office in town. For nearly two years my office salary was high as the receiving
branch.
38. Two things then happened, one the Post Office increased its compensation to
leavers based on their best year in the last 3, my leaving package now became
around £120,000. Although I was reluctant to admit that I was fighting a losing
battle, I knew that if 1 did not leave at that point, the shortages would wipe me out
financially. I took the leaving package.
39. On a more personal note, at that time I had been fighting the National Federation of
Subpostmasters. I even tried to become General Secretary. I had been in open
warfare with Paula Vennells at a conference watched by over 600 delegates. I
believe that I was becoming troublesome for the Post Office and the Federation.
They wanted me out.
40. I resigned. The alternative would have been bankruptcy sooner rather than later. The
shop was sold in Autumn 2014.
Civil and Criminal Proceedings
41. The Post Office did not pursue civil or criminal proceedings against me for recovery
of the alleged shortfalls. However, they did conduct an investigation into a large
shortfall that was obviously not my responsibility, ant then compelled me to pay for
half of that sum, in circumstances where it was plainly nor my responsibility. I lived
in fear of being prosecuted for theft or false accounting, so I continued to pay the
Post Office
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Losses
42. 1 paid the Post Office approximately £50,000 to cover the shortfalls that were
created as a result of the flawed Horizon system. I was led to believe that I had no
alternative but to pay the shortfalls and I believed that a thorough and fair
investigation had determined that payment was due.
43. I had entered a plan for expanding and modernising the business. To that end a large
finance plan was in place. We completed the first part of the repayment but could
not finance the second part as the £10,000 required was used to pay the shortfalls.
44, Before all the issues began, it had been my intention to remain at the branch until
my retirement which would have been in 2031. My annual salary from the Post
Office was £35,000.
45. Since moving to Sheffield, as I could no longer remain in the community where the
branch was located, I have retrained as a bus driver and have been employed since
October 2016. My annual salary as a bus driver is £18,000, which is £17,000 a year
less than I was earning at the branch.
46. My business was valued at £325,000. I sold it for £205,000. The retail store made a
further annual net profit of £20,000. My post termination losses from the retail store
are £340,000. I therefore estimate that my total loss of earnings post termination is
£665,000.
Human Impact
47. It really is impossible to put into words what I have suffered as a result of the actions
of Post Office.
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I was also massively let down by the National Federation of Subpostmasters who did
not act in my best interests.
Prior to what happened to me, I was a very confident and successful in all my
previous employment positions. This was gradually eroded, and I know feel unable
to return to a management role as a direct result of the issues with Post Office. It got
to the point where I no longer enjoyed going into the shop. It was a constant source
of stress, knowing that there would no doubt be a further shortfall. I was constantly
anxious. This brought on levels of depression I had never experienced previously.
My emotions ranged from despair to anger. I could not identify where the losses
were coming from, neither could those employed by Post Office, who would only
ever consider them to be as a result of theft by someone in the branch.
I battled on, believing that someone would figure out where the money was. This
action only compounded my financial difficulties, as I had no other option but to use
my own money to make up the shortfall, in the vain hope that I would eventually get
it back when the problems were resolved.
Technically, I was existing in a bankrupt state. I had no way of retrieving my losses
and was unable to sell as the losses were in the accounts. I now had the proverbial
millstone around my neck trying to service a business debt.
{ was terrified that I would be prosecuted by Post Office for theft if I did not pay back
the shortfalls. If that were to have happened, I would have had no option but to
declare myself bankrupt. The results from a lifetime of work, gone.
I was a single parent but spent so much time working. My children suffered terribly,
and I will forever be left with the guilt.
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55. Because of the shortfalls, I was not willing to delegate any of the work to assistants.
I became obsessive and paranoid. I would be in at 5 am to do the morning papers
and would not leave until closing at 8 pm.
56. I was led by the Post Office to be suspicious of my assistants and, as a result, two of
them left. They did not want to work in such a toxic work environment. I have since
met with them and they do understand, now that some of the actions of Post Office
has become public, but it is still hard to hear how my assistants felt at the time.
57. I was always conscious about saving money. I was too scared to put the heating on in
my home, for example, for fear that I would eventually run out of money and not be
able to pay the shortfalls.
58, My children never had treats or the things they deserved. My daughter ran away
from home on one occasion as she got very few of the little things her friends got.
The police became involved, and it was a very traumatic time. My daughter is now in
her 30s and still has bad memories of that whole time. It has been a long road trying
to make things right with my children.
CONCLUSION
59. The Post Office action against me ruined my life. I should have been running a
successful business, providing well for my family, and enjoying life.
60. I have tried to give an indication of the consequences of the Post Office action
against me in this statement, but it is impossible to give a full account of the nights
and days when you can see no way ahead.
61. The Horizon system has been shown to be deeply flawed and that the Post Office
knew.
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62. 1 would like the full truth to come out. I want the world to know that I, and other
ordinary hard working, decent people had their lives ruined by Post Office Ltd.
63. I would like it to be publicly shown that Post Office knew its Horizon computer
system was completely flawed and unreliable, and that despite this the Post Office
pursued subpostmasters and ruined their lives for money that never existed.
64. lam entitled to be properly compensated for the losses I have suffered as a result of
Post Office Ltd, and I would like this sooner, rather than later.
65. The Post Office and the Department of Business who own it, have known for years
that Horizon was a broken system. I believe that they knew, or should have known,
when they were destroying my life and the lives of others that their Horizon System
was unreliable.
66. I would like compensation for not just the financial losses, but also to take account of
the loss of the life I had and should have had. I would like them publicly held to
account and shamed in the way I and my family have been.
Statement of Truth
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.
GRO.
Shane Johnson
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