Sub-postmaster quits after Post Office TV drama

Graham Livesey will close his village Post Office branch in the summer

A sub-postmaster has decided to close his branch after being "reduced to tears" by a TV drama about the Post Office accounting scandal.

Graham Livesey - who also experienced issues with the Horizon software - said he would be closing the branch in Staveley, near Kendal, Cumbria, in July.

Mr Livesey said it had been a "hard decision" but he could no longer work with the Post Office, which is wholly-owned by the government.

A spokesperson said it could not comment on individual cases, and added it was "committed" to continuing its work to transform the Post Office.

The Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses between 1999 and 2015 based on information from the Horizon system, after faulty software wrongly made it look like money was missing.

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new law on Wednesday to "swiftly" exonerate the victims.

'I was lied to'

Mr Livesey took on the branch in 2009 and said there had been no problems for about a year, until "all of a sudden" he began having shortages.

Because of his IT background, Mr Livesey said he suspected network errors and contacted the Horizon helpdesk.

"I was told it must be a branch error and I was the only one," he said.

"In consequence, I realised that at that point in time I was lied to."

Mr Livesey said he contacted Horizon's helpdesk after experiencing issues with the system

Mr Livesey told BBC Radio Cumbria that he suffered "minor losses" over the years but was able to pay the money back "on each occasion".

"It's been frequent errors and intermittent errors which have caused this, and every single time it's just a build up with me repaying and repaying," he said.

Mr Livesey was eventually compensated, but he said it was watching ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office was "the straw that broke the camel's back".

"It was enough to reduce me to tears. I was bawling my eyes out all the way through," he said.

"It was just incredible that the Post Office went to the lengths to defend the brand name.

"It's something that I can't go back to and I can't work with them anymore."

Mr Livesey said he had given the Post Office six months' notice and his branch, which is the only one in the village, would close in July.

"It was a very hard decision to make. I've been keeping the Post office running for years now," he said.

"There was a lot to take in, but on the balance of everything, I have to live with my own conscience and my conscience is clear."

A Post Office spokesperson urged anyone affected to come forward and added: “We are acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible.

"Both the Post Office and the Government are committed to full and fair compensation which puts people back in the position they would have been in had these events not taken place."