WITNO2960100
Witness Name: Mrs Rachel Williams
Statement No: WITNO296_01
, , Exhibits: None
Dated.LuL {Boe} Bande
THE POST OFFICE HORIZON IT INQUIRY
FIRST WITNESS STATEMENT OF MRS RACHEL WILLIAMS
1, MRS RACHEL WILLIAMS 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
2. 1am 49 years of age. I am married with two sons. I live in Little Moorland, Somerset.
I have lived in this particular area for the past 15 years but have always lived in
Somerset. I have always worked in a self-employed capacity. My husband, and I own
a farm.
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I was the subpostmistress of Allerton post office, Little Moorland, Chapel Allerton,
Axbridge, Somerset from 1 April 2006 to 1 November 2008.
1 operated a retail business selling, amongst other things, confectionary,
refreshments and fresh meat produced on our farm. The post office and farm was
our only source of income.
Before taking on the post office, I worked the farm, and my husband had a full-time
job.
. We lived in a house in a neighbouring village to the farm. However, the post office
near our farm, was run by a couple who were retiring so we decided to take over
from them.
I have always lived in Somerset, and I was drawn to the idea of being at the heart of
the village community as a subpostmistress.
In preparation for the move, my husband and I sold our house and moved into a
mobile home and the post office was in an adjoining portacabin, which became part
of our farm grounds.
My husband gave up his full-time job to run the farm and I took over the post office
on a full-time basis.
. We paid approximately £21,200 for the branch, alarm and portacabin in which the
branch was located. However, Post Office covered half of this cost and so we
contributed approximately £10,600.
. I trusted the Post Office as a well-established institution that I could do business with
and would give us financial security. We intended to continue running the farm and
the post office until we retired.
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12,
We anticipated having a long successful business and fulfilling family life.
TRAINING AND SUPPORT
13.
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1 cannot recall how many days training I had prior to my appointment as
subpostmistress. I recall that I had some classroom training in Bristol. This was
followed by training at the branch which was conducted by Faith Lavender and
Gwyneth Solis.
Throughout the training I was taught, in a classroom environment, how to process
transactions through Horizon. I do not feel as though this training adequately
prepared me to run the branch.
In particular, I was not given adequate guidance on how to deal with transaction
corrections, which I feel contributed to the shortfalls that I experienced in the
branch. I also really struggled with the daily remittance process, as this was not
covered in the training in any depth.
On 14 September 2006, a Post Office support advisor (whose name I cannot recall)
attended the branch as I had been experiencing shortfalls, which related to
processing cheques. I had been righting these shortfalls by completing a transaction
correction, as I'was taught to do in the training. However, I still felt some unease in
doing this and was not 100% confident that this is how I should be dealing with the
shortfalls.
After reviewing all the transaction corrections at the branch, the advisor informed
me that all the corrections had been processed correctly.
I was assured by the Post Office advisor that each time the Horizon system showed a
shortfall, I was to apply a transaction correction and that would solve the issue. The
system balanced and I was able to continue trading as normal the following morning.
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19. However, I continued to feel unsure and lacked confidence and in September 2006, I
requested further training from Post Office. I still did not feel that I had sufficient
knowledge of (amongst other things) the remittance process, sending overseas mail
and processing travel transactions.
20. On or around 10 October 2006, a Mr Craig Winks of the Post Office visited the
branch to conduct this further training. I cannot recall this visit in any depth;
however, I did not feel much more confident in processing these transactions after
the training.
Helpline
21.1 contacted the helpline approximately once every couple of months. Often, when I
would call, it would be impossible to get through to an advisor and I would
eventually put the phone down.
22. When processing a transaction at the branch, it was not professional to ask a
customer to wait whilst I got through to the helpline.
23.1 found that the advice given varied greatly in quality. Sometimes, the advisors
seemed to know even less than I did and could not resolve my queries. They would
regularly tell me to look at the manual provided but this was not helpful when
customers were waiting, and I found the manuals difficult to follow.
SHORTFALLS
24. 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.
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25.1 did not know that there were any losses occurring in the branch until Post Office
conducted an audit at the branch on 19 June 2008. I was balancing the system using
transaction corrections on each occasion the system showed a loss, as I had been
told to do so by the trainers and the helpline. As such, I was not aware of the
shortfalls.
26. The audit identified a shortfall of £8,724.62. which I was told was broken down
between discrepancies in cash, stamps, stock and cheques.
27.1 paid the total shortfall in full around 18 months after the audit took place. I settled
the amount centrally. I was led to believe that I had no option but to do so. That it
was my fault the losses had occurred, and I had to make them good.
28.1 wish to emphasise that I was shown no evidence to support these findings and I
was not given access to the data so that I could check the figures of the auditors. I
had repeatedly asked for further assistance and training and so I was distraught to
discover that I was being blamed for the loss.
AUDITS
29. As detailed above, an audit took place on 19 June 2008, and was conducted by Karen
Derbe and Paul Holland, Post Office auditors.
30. I was not told that an audit would be taking place. I was asked to explain the alleged
shortfalls. I explained that I could not account for the figures on Horizon and that I
was sure that there must be a flaw in the system and that I had been following the
procedures set by the Post Office.
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SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION
31. Following the audit on the 19 June 2008, the auditors informed me that I was to be
suspended from my position as subpostmistress.
32. The Post Office auditors locked the safe, but did not remove it, and took my keys. My
husband and I felt very unsafe as we knew a large sum of money was being held in
the safe to which we did not have access.
33. I was absolutely devastated and could not comprehend how the loss had happened.
I went from thinking the post office was a success to being suspended and treated
like a thief, all in one day. I was treated with contempt and disrespect from the very
outset by the Post Office staff.
34. On 21 June 2008, I wrote to my contracts manager, Nigel Allen, to dispute the
decision to suspend me. I wanted to fight this as it was unjust.
35. Following this, Mr Allen agreed that an outlet field support advisor, Craig Winks to
attend the branch to review the Horizon records and investigate the shortfalls. He
spent several hours going through the system and paperwork but could not explain
why the losses had occurred.
36. On 16 July 2008, I was ordered to attend a fact-finding interview with Nigel Allen, a
Post Office investigator.
37.1 took a recording device into this interview and Mr Allen informed me that he would
be recording the interview as well.
38. I found that Mr Allen had very little knowledge of the Horizon system throughout the
interview. He would ask questions about how the shortfalls occurred and would
then make calls for clarification as to procedures that I was expected to follow. It
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was clear that even the officials hired to investigate the shortfalls had not the first
idea of how the Horizon system worked themselves.
The threat of criminal or civil action was ever-present during this interview and the
following investigation.
Following this interview, Mr Allen arranged for Robbie Hermes, also an outlet field
support advisor, to attend the branch to investigate the shortfalls.
Mr Hermes did attend the branch and he, like Mr Winks, could not identify the
causes of the shortfalls.
My husband and I went through all the paperwork and realised that all the shortfalls
could be directly traced back to the transaction corrections I was putting into the
Horizon system. For example, one piece of paperwork showed a minus of £106.60, a
transaction correction of £106.60 and yet the paperwork was still showing a deficit
of £106.60. We showed our paperwork to Mr Hermes, and this was simply brushed
aside.
Mr Hermes emailed Mr Allen explaining the outcome of his investigation, this was
forwarded to me. In his email Mr Hermes suggested that a combination of the
minimal training and poor instructions on how to process transaction corrections
given to sub postmasters was to blame for the shortfalls I experienced at the branch.
Nevertheless, my contract was terminated by Post Office. I was informed of this
decision by letter dated 25 September 2008 from Nigel Allen.
My position was terminated for breach of section 12 (paragraphs 4 and 12) of the
sub postmaster's contract. Post Office alleged that I failed to keep the accounts in
the form prescribed by the Post Office and had caused accounting irregularities as a
consequence.
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46.1 appealed the termination of my contract and attended an appeal interview on or
around 28 November 2008 with the appeals manager, Richard Clemerson.
47.\ appealed the termination of my contract on the grounds that I was only following
the instructions given to me by Post Office Ltd. That I had sought further training on
the Horizon system and that it was Post Office Ltd who had failed to properly rectify
the shortfalls when I had made them aware of them through the helpline and when
their advisors attended my branch.
48. Mr Clemerson wrote to me on 5 February 2009 to inform me that my appeal had
been unsuccessful. He stated that he had investigated the shortfalls and concluded
that these must have been caused by my errors whilst processing transactions on
Horizon, even though the investigation had concluded that I was not given sufficient
training on the system.
49. As Post Office could never provide any comprehensive explanation as to how the
shortfalls had occurred, I do not feel as though they were ever investigated in any
depth.
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
50. The Post Office did not pursue criminal or civil action against me, but I remained in
fear of such action being taken because of the formal interviews I had been
subjected to and the termination of my contract.
LOSSES
51. The Post Office’s flawed Horizon system undermined the running of my business,
and resulted in shortfall repayments, thereby affecting its viability. In total I had to
pay more than £8,724.62.
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52. As a result of the Horizon system and the Post Office’s actions I was financially
ruined when my business became unviable.
53. The Post Office closed the branch, so our rural shop lost significant footfall. We lost a
great deal of income and had to try and make ends meet as best we could, but in the
end had to close our shop.
54.1 intended to run the branch until retirement which was approximately 30 years
away at the time of my termination. However, the Post Office destroyed my plans
for a secure retirement.
HUMAN IMPACT
55. The effect of the events occurring as a result of the Post Office’s actions cannot be
fully explained or put into words.
56. We had many sleepless nights worrying over shortfalls and were left to work out
what had happened. We spent hours going through paperwork and were unaware
that others were in the same position.
57.1 suffered worry and stress due to having to borrow the money from friends and
family to pay the Post Office the shortfall.
58. I believed that we were running a successful business, so I was confused when the
Post Office audit discovered a shortfall. I went into a downward spiral of stress and
anxiety attempting to understand how that could have happened.
59.1 went from being a respected member of the community to someone who was
being threatened with criminal and civil action. I was terrified of being criminalised
despite being innocent.
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60. In my small rural community, I was well known as the subpostmistress and rumours
of me being fraudulent circulated when my post office branch was audited and
closed.
61. Some people who I knew stopped speaking to me because they believed these
rumours and I am still conscious of avoiding certain people if I go out of my home.
62. Shortly after our shop closed my husband become ill, which I believe was down to
the stress of the Post Office actions.
63. He did recover and thankfully has remained in good health since, but it took several
months to get back to normal.
64. As a result of the Horizon shortfalls, and the Post Office action against me, our
financial circumstances were impacted, and we were unable to provide our sons
with many things they needed.
65. We missed out on family holidays, outings and could not afford to buy the things
their friends were getting.
66. My husband and I suffered many sleepless nights worrying about how the losses
occurred. We were at our wits end, poring over paperwork to try to explain it. This
was time we should have been spending with our sons.
67. I was also terrified that I would be prosecuted and possibly jailed for theft, branded a
thief and labelled as such for the rest of my life.
CONCLUSION
68. The Post Office ruined my financial security, and in doing so impacted my mental
health, my family and community relationships.
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69. I believe that the Post Office were aware of the problems with their Horizon System
for a long time but decided to put the blame onto subpostmasters to hide their own
failures.
70. I feel like this is never ending. I have not been able to move on since this happened
in 2008.
71.We, as a group of subpostmasters have been in a cycle of hope and then
disappointment. I hope more than anything that the Post Office will finally be held to
account.
STATEMENT OF TRUTH
I believe the facts contained in this Statement are true.
Signed!
Rachel Williams
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