Our local subpostmaster, Mark Wildblood, has been suspended and the Upton Post Office closed whilst Post Office Ltd investigate "accounting irregularities" at the branch. This is at a time when Post Office Ltd is in the High Court in London, being challenged by HUNDREDS of subpostmasters, who believe that the Post Office Ltd's accounting system, Horizon, which is used in Post Offices across the UK, is not fit for purpose. The controversy dates back to 2008, when Computer Weekly was contacted by a subpostmaster who had discovered unexplained losses in his accounts. Other subpostmasters then also came forward with similar claims. They suspected that problems with the Post Office’s Horizon accounting system, which was developed by ICL/Fujitsu Services, were causing accounting shortfalls, for which the Post Office held them liable. Some subpostmasters have even been imprisoned due to these issues with Post Office Ltd.

We, the residents of Upton, their families and friends believe that it is unfair to suspend Mark and close our Post Office, whilst such a court case is underway. Let's face it, Post Office Ltd continues to trade whilst the court case and investigations are carried out, so why treat a subpostmaster differently?

Upton is a small village which has many shops that rely on passing trade from people who use the Post Office. As a result of this closure, many local small businesses are suffering badly. Old age pensioners are having to travel on buses to other branches further away to collect their pension money and no doubt many feel vulnerable on a bus having just withdrawn large sums of cash at a strange branch! The local bank closed earlier this year, so with the Post Office closed, there is now nowhere for people to withdraw money in the village. 

We hereby ask Paula Vennells, Group Chief Executive of Post Office Ltd to intervene, do the right thing and reopen our local Post Office branch WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, whilst Post Office Ltd carries out its investigations into the branch.