Post Office: Postmaster quit after paying £44k in Horizon scandal

Cled Jones says he was put in a financially impossible situation by the Post Office

A retired sub-postmaster has revealed how paying the Post Office almost £44,000 to cover supposed losses forced him to quit the business.

The apparent shortfalls were the result of faulty Horizon software which resulted in hundreds being prosecuted by the Post Office.

Cled Jones, who ran Bethel post office in Gwynedd, said the situation made it "financially impossible to carry on".

The scandal has been highlighted by ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

"I couldn't keep using my own money to cover the alleged shortfalls," Mr Jones, 71, said.

He and wife Susan said they would still be running the post office, but could not "take any more" because of the financial stress.

The Post Office's accusations left him shunned by some in his village.

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Once someone spat on the floor near Mrs Jones. "Right in front of me," she said.

Mr Jones, a father of four, spent 14 years as a sub-postmaster.

He took over the business in 2006 and the first claimed loss came to light that year.

Then in 2011 Mr Jones was accused of not balancing the books and suspended for six weeks.

In 2019 he was audited again and the Post Office told him he was £10,000 short.

"I said, 'That's impossible because I've checked the balance'. But she said, 'You're £10,000 short, and if you don't pay, you'll have to go to court'.

Actor Toby Jones played Alan Bates in the ITV drama that has highlighted the scandal

"Susan, my wife, ran home and sorted the money to transfer from savings, and that's how we managed to keep the post at that time."

The total they ended up paying over 14 years was £43,700, Mr Jones said. His wife called the experience "mental torture".

Mr Jones said he paid the Post Office because he did not want people to gossip about him.

He only told his daughters after ITV's four-part drama was broadcast this month.

And when he was threatened with court in 2019 the couple were terrified.

"If I hadn't paid that money back myself I would have been in prison by now," Mr Jones said.

"I would have been in the same position as Noel Thomas [the Anglesey sub-postmaster jailed and later cleared] and the others."

Mrs Jones said if her husband had gone to jail "he would never be able to handle it, never".

Problems with Horizon were repeatedly flagged to the Post Office but, Mr Jones said, nobody would listen to him.

Cled Jones took over Bethel post office in 2006 and his wife Susan helped him run the adjacent village shop

"They didn't want to know my side, it was like talking to a wall," Mr Jones said.

Mr Jones is one of hundreds of ex-postmasters fighting for compensation.

"The money lost is important but the main thing I want is an apology," he said.

"I want to be able to hold a letter of apology from the Post Office and show it to everyone."

Mr Jones wanted his community to understand what he and his wife had been through.

He said: "I want to clear my name. I want the people of this village and those who came to the Post Office from surrounding villages to understand.

"I want them to say, 'You see, he didn't do anything wrong."

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