Former sub postmaster's compensation 'ridiculous'

David Farry began running the post office in Ferryhill in 2000

A former sub postmaster who "lost everything" after the Horizon scandal has described his compensation offer as "ridiculous".

David Farry, who ran a post office in Ferryhill, County Durham, was pursued by the Post Office through the civil courts over shortfalls that were not his fault.

He received a compensation offer on Monday, but said it was significantly less than his claim and he was not going to accept it.

The government said it had "more than tripled the total amount of payments".

"I'm absolutely traumatised. This is just mental torture," Mr Farry said.

"I expected to get quite a decent sum of money to see me until my retirement age and give me a little bit of a buffer so I can treat the children."

However, he said he was offered "way less than 50%" of the claim he had put in.

"Absolutely ridiculous - it's an insult to people's intelligence," he said.

"Took me about 30 seconds to digest the offer and make my mind up."

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said scheme applicants who feel they were owed more should speak to their legal advisors to appeal and this would be overseen by an independent panel of experts.

'Lost everything'

Mr Farry bought Ferryhill post office in 2000 and ran it with his ex-wife, who became the sub postmistress.

He said issues with the Horizon system started within weeks when a £1,380 deficit appeared.

"It continued from there. You'd get to the point where you'd phone the Horizon helpline, you would get no help," Mr Farry said.

After his marriage ended he became a sub postmaster.

Issues with shortfalls continued and Mr Farry said he was advised by his solicitor not to sign cashier counts.

"Fortunately looking back, I think if I had signed the cashier counts they would've taken me to court and prosecuted," he said.

He was still pursued via the civil courts with a civil charge on his property over the shortages.

"I went into the Post Office with a mortgage-free property and a quite nice lifestyle," Mr Farry said.

"I left the Post Office with absolutely nothing, I was living sofa to sofa, begging and borrowing off family and friends - it was just horrendous.

"No help, no support, you couldn't challenge anything, absolutely devastating - I lost everything."

'Recognise the suffering'

Mr Farry said the way the compensation scheme was administered was not "acceptable".

He added it was "unfair" that he could not access compensation for the 12 years he had run the post office with his wife, even though it had been a joint venture.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: "We recognise the suffering that victims of the Horizon scandal like David have endured.

"We have more than tripled the total amount of payments under this government to provide postmasters with full and fair redress and have issued 410 offers to the 431 GLO claimants who have submitted full claims."