September starts (as August ended) with the default British Heart Foundation slogan. Las year we had Air Ambulances week and 'Thinking of You' week one of the regular exhortations from the greetings card industry to 'send a card'.
Here's an early example of the BHF slogan that we received at home. This is from Peterborough Mail Centre dated 02-09-2025
British Heart Foundation slogan from Peterborough Centre 02-09-2025
As expected the slogan for Air Ambulance Week has now appeared. Thanks to PC for this one from South East Anglia Mail Centre 06/09/2025.
Support your Air Ambulance
Air Ambulance Week September 9th - 15th
Support Your Air Ambulance slogan South East Anglia Mail Centre 06/09/2025
Update 18 September. DW sent this copy of the other layout for the Air Ambulance from Inverness Mail Centre on the same date.
Support Your Air Ambulance slogan Inverness Mail Centre 06-09-2025
Update 18 September. As predicted the annual Send A Card campaign supporting the Greetings Card Industry has its slogan this week. Here's an example from Peterborough on 16 September thanks to KH.
The slogan repeats theformat from previous years.
Send A Card Deliver A Smile for Thinking of You Week 15th-22st September 2025
Thinking of You Week slogan used at Peterborough Mail Centre 16-09-2025
From SS in Canada, the other layout - not the best example - from Birmingham Mail Centre 16/09/2025. (?)
Thinking of You Week slogan used at Birmingham Mail Centre 16/09/2025
Update 6 October. Well done to the Red Roses for winning the Women's Rugby World Cup by beating Canada a week or so ago. Royal Mail marked the win with a special slogan postmark, but I have no idea when it started or finished as their website is silent and the 29 September announcement on X provided no details.
The Women's Rugby World Cup.
Template for Women's Rugby World Cup slogan 28-09-2025.
I was surprised to find an example on my doormat when I got back from holiday - but no emails from any readers. Surely someone must have one? Here's a five line example from Tyneside NE/SR Mail Centre 29/09/2025.
Women's Rugby World Cup slogan Tyneside NE/SR 29/09/2025.
So aside from any other examples, that's it for September (and it may have rolled into October.)
UPDATE 27 October: the World Cup slogan did continue into October, and at last we have an image of the other - four line - layout (thanks RW) from Mount Pleasant Mail Centre 29-09-2025.
Women's Rugby World Cup slogan Mount Pleasant Mail Centre 29/09/2025.
Other postmarks and postal markings, etc
I haven't seen any news reports about this postbox repainted recently in Dartford, reported by Lars Tåders. Let us know if you see any more - although as they are almost certainly unofficial I probably won't give them too much publicity.
I suppose commercial sponsorship of postboxes would be another way to make money but I don't think this will happen!
Other postmarks.
Thanks to JB for these two examples of postmarks from Lincoln. The first is from the Delivery Office, and the second from Sincil Street post office.
Lincoln Delivery Office handstamp on a receipt 18 July 2025.
Sincil Street Lincoln B post office counter self-inking datestamp 22 July 2025.
This branch is interesting because it is not in Sincil Street! Following consultation the branch was relocated to Unit 7, The Stonebow Centre, Silver Street, Lincoln, LN2 1DY in 2021. It seems it has retained the same handstamp. This may be because the shop relocated under the same ownership and the postmaster decided they didn't want to pay for a new datestamp with the new location's wording.
Sincil Street, Lincoln, Post Office in the Stonebow Centre Silver Sreet, not in Sincil St. Image from Google Streetview
Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in Sepember will be added to this post, so check
here before you spend time scanning and emailing.
With the old NCR units on their way out, the Post Office is preparing
to introduce new self-service machines. These new machines will
continue to offer a wide range of services, but with improved
technology, they will likely focus on contactless and card payments.
This transition could mean more convenient and secure transactions for
customers, but for collectors, the big question remains: will the new
devices continue to offer the same collectible “Post and Go” labels?
The new machines will be equipped with the latest technology, and
while it’s unclear whether they will provide the same unique stamps,
many collectors are hopeful that new, limited edition stamps and
postmarks will be introduced with the new systems.
The Final Year for NCR Kiosks
For now, collectors still have a chance to visit the NCR kiosks
before they are replaced. These final months will offer a last
opportunity to obtain stamps from these machines, which have produced
some iconic labels over the years. Whether you’re looking to add to your
collection of “Open Value” stamps or seek out a
machine-specific code, this is the time to make those visits to your
local post office before the NCR units are retired.
Sleek, Space-Saving Build: The new kiosk fits seamlessly into tighter branch layouts without sacrificing functionality.
Integrated Parcel Sizing: Automated sizing and weighing hardware is
built into the core unit, eliminating bulky add-ons and streamlining the
user experience.
Dual-Mode Control Panel: A high-resolution touchscreen paired with
tactile buttons ensures compliance with DDA accessibility standards.
Stamps on Demand These kiosks aren’t just parcels
and labels—we’re expecting a new series of ‘Post and Go’ style stamps -
watch this space for information as soon as know
For the first time, collectors can capture not only photos of the
kiosk’s streamlined chassis but also potentially secure trial-only stamp
prints directly from the machine. Stay tuned for branch locations
hosting the live pilot—and prepare your albums for a fresh wave of new
collectables.
Royal Mail have been asked to comment on 'new stamps'.
After Christmas the default slogan for British Heart Foundation (BHF) returned, and this continued into January. There ought to be one for Burns Night towards the end of the month, so look out for that.
RW has sent this example of the BHF slogan dated 09/01/2025 from Tyneside NE/SR Mail Centre.
Default British Heart Foundation slogan used Tyneside NE/SR Mail Centre 09/01/2025
Update 28 January I'm a little behind on these but there has only been one new slogan so far. As far as I know Royal Mail did not commemorate Burns Night (25th January) this year. I think the last one was in 2021.
However a recurring one is for Holocaust Memorial Day, and here is the Royal Mail publicity image.
Holocaust Memorial Day publicity picture.
Holocaust Memorial Day For a Better Future 27 January 2025
Examples of both layouts have been supplied by readers. RW sent one from South East Anglia, and MD sent one from Glasgow: both are dated 23 January.
Holocaust Memorial Day used at Glasgow 23-01-2025
Holocaust Memorial Day used at South East Anglia 23/01/2025
Update 3 February 2025
Royal Mail have announcedthat the British Heart Foundation variant for RevivR (used last February) will be used again this year.
British Heart Foundation Learn lifesaving CPR with RevivR Find out more at bhf.org.uk/revivr
Other postmarks and postal markings
MD also sent this not too clear example of a self-inking datestamp from the Post Office branch at Summerton Glasgow.
Summerston Glasgow self-inking datestamp 21 JA 25
Summerston is in the Asda Superstore in the north Glasgow suburb of Maryhill. There was a time when Post Office signs were always large, and often mounted at right-angles to the building so that they could be identified from a distance. This one is mounted flat on the building, so at least you can see it when you have parked, though if you don't know that it is within the store, maybe you wouldn't know where to park.
Asda Superstore, Summerston, Maryhill, Glasgow.
Jan W sent another example of a dotted counter stamp, this one from Broomhall Drive, Corstophine, Edinburgh. The branch has been located within the Day-Today Express at 37 Broomhall Drive since October 2023. Google's car last went past in 2020 so there is no signage, but the postbox was there then, suggesting that this might have been the location of the post office branch before that.
Broomhall Drive PO self-inking datestamp - new type with Morse Code border 9 December 2024.
Postboxes
Not long after our return from Ireland, I showed some pictures of Irish postboxes, and PD sent this rare example of a British Edward VII pillar box which is in Stephen St, Sligo, (Photo taken in Sept 2023).
Rare Edward VII British Pillar Box in Sligo, Rep of Ireland.
RS has sent some more pictures of Irish boxes, Victorian in Killarney, Edward VII in Tipperary (similar to the one above), and George V in Dublin. BW points out that the George V boxes are not as common as Edward VII because independence came part way through the reign in 1922.
I have written about The Post Office's new computer system which would replace the discredited Horizon several times, and the very limited trial at just a few branches.
As recently as October Computer Weekly suggested that with an already massive £1 billion overspend and over-run the plug might be pulled - leaving Horizon in place, and Fujitsu still supporting it.
Now that same journal reports that the system is being abandoned without sufficient care being taken over retention of important data.
According to a source close to the project, the Post Office is ending its Strategic Platform Modernisation Programme (SPMP), which the Horizon replacement project known as New Branch IT (NBIT) sits within, and is letting staff go.
and
Last week, a large group of staff on the SPMP were told they would not be needed beyond Friday 13 December, giving the Post Office about a week to secure the data they hold and ensure it can be accessed in the future.
The data could be vital for future inquiries into the project, the Post Office and why SPMP spent hundreds of millions of pounds more than it budgeted for but still failed to deliver NBIT. It includes data in emails, messaging apps, working documents and technical information documents.
The source told Computer Weekly: “Over the next couple of weeks, the SPMP is concluding its decision to let go of contractors and third parties, but without adequately completing a credible data safeguarding activity, the Post Office’s response to the risk is very weak. Something is not right about this.”
A source with inside knowledge of the project said it is now “nearly certain” that a fusion of Horizon, in-house NBIT and off-the-shelf software will replace the current system. This would involve the Post Office buying the Horizon system from Fujitsu rather than renting it as it does now.
This was a previous proposal that had been scrapped, according to the source. “There is nothing new about it and there were reasons why it was rejected in the first place,” they said.
Another source said teams at the Post Office have a “vested interest in Horizon staying around” and that some have been vocal about it. He added that “change is a difficult thing and a lot of people object to it”.
This must mean the end - soon or already - of the trial which produced labels such as those at the head of this piece. Whilst we know that a number of these have been produced by collectors and possibly by dealers, there certainly can't be many. And for anybody who has collected Horizon labels and wants to continue through to replacement systems, inclusion of these is essential.
The much-criticised Capture computer system was developed in-house by Post Office. The Horizon system was developed by ICL/Fujitsu. The New Branch Information Technology system was being developed in-house, and is running way over budget - and is unlikely to be available for several years, during which Post Office Ltd will have to continue to use Fujitsu to maintain Horizon.
As things stand, the Post Office contract with IT supplier Fujitsu to
support Horizon ends in March 2025, and if that’s not extended, the
consequences could be catastrophic for the branch network. Even Fujitsu
is cautious about continuing, and has said it will only do so if
convinced the Post Office has a viable replacement plan in place.
The Post Office has asked for a five-year extension, with a three-year break point. The full five years could see up to £180m of additional taxpayer money go to the IT supplier.
According to witnesses at the public inquiry into the Post
Office scandal, the two companies have yet to agree a new contract, with
less than six months to go.
Former Post Office chief transformation officer Chris Brocklesby told the inquiry
that, if everything went according to plan, the earliest the Horizon
replacement – dubbed New Branch IT (NBIT) – would begin roll-out is June
2026, with Horizon finally switched off at the end of 2028.
The “writing is on the wall” for the Post Office’s plan to build its
New Branch IT (NBIT) system in-house, as it considers dumping it in
favour of an off-the-shelf electronic point of sale (EPOS) alternative.
A source said the Post Office looks set to U-turn on its current plan to replace the controversial Horizon IT system with in-house developed software and either switch to an off-the-shelf system from a supplier or bring Horizon in-house.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the Post Office is
considering a contract with EPOS platform provider Escher, the supplier
of the Riposte middleware that was previously used in early versions of
the Horizon system. There is also support within the Post Office IT
department for bringing the existing and controversial Horizon system
in-house. The source said a decision has not been made yet, but it
appears “the writing is on the wall” for the in-house NBIT software,
which is expected to be dumped.
This follows an admission by recently installed Post Office chairman Nigel Railton, during his appearance at the Post Office scandal public inquiry this week, that the company’s decision to build the new system in-house was one of two reasons the project was “set up to fail”.
Railton told the inquiry: “One was the decision ‘to get off Horizon’,
which is different to building a system for the future, and the second
was the decision to build in-house.” He said there are many “horror
stories” of people trying to build systems in-house, adding: “I think,
based on my experience, that this was always set up to fail in the first
place.”
-----
A recent internal Post Office document sent to staff by acting CEO
Neil Brocklehurst revealed that changes to the NBIT programme are being
considered. “While the strategic review is ongoing, and informed by
other discussions with the board and stakeholders, we have taken the
opportunity to review our current approach to our delivery of new
technology, to make sure it will deliver what postmasters need in the
most effective way possible,” it said.
“This means from next week we will start reassessing and
reprioritising the NBIT programme. This does not mean we will be
stopping everything. Critical investment in Horizon’s infrastructure
will continue and, importantly, we will be moving forward with the
installation of new technology into branches over the next 12 months,”
the document said.
According to the source, the NBIT team has been told to hold off
building any more features until a decision is made on whether to
continue with the current in-house project.
I know this isn't on the list in my previous post but it's timely and brings attention back to the Post Office Ltd failings, and the unchanged culture.
Two reports, one about the computer system used at PO branches before Horizon was introduced, and the other about Fujitsu's reaction to POL asking for a witness statement and evidence this year for a further prosecution. A third report covers continuing waste on NBIT, delays to which mean that Horizon will keep being used.
Report 1
In the week after Sir Alan Bates received his knighthood at Windsor Castle, Computer Weekly reveals failings similar to those in the Horizon case with its predecessor, Capture. Capture was a PC-based accounting system, referred to as 'a glorified spreadsheet'. There was no centralisation of data, and as with Horizon, too little training if any.
Here's the Computer Weekly article by Karl Flinders (links are to CW and WhatDoTheyKnow websites).
Post Office dramatically increased the number of investigations into subpostmasters after Capture Software was introduced
A change in Post Office behaviour after it introduced software to
computerise branch accounts in 1993 mirrors an increase in prosecutions
six years later, when the controversial Horizon system was introduced.
Lives were destroyed as the Post Office blamed subpostmasters for
unexplained accounting shortfalls that only existed on the error-prone
Horizon accounting system used in branches. Former users of Horizon
predecessor, Capture, have been campaigning since January when ITV’s dramatisation of the Post Office scandal revealed parallels to problems they experienced.
Data on Post Office prosecutions has revealed worrying similarities
to how the Post Office treated Horizon and Capture users who suffered
unexplained losses.
According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request,
in the six years before Capture was introduced by the Post Office to
automate manual processes, fewer than five subpostmasters were
investigated over account shortfalls in four of the years, seven
investigations were carried out in 1992, and 11 investigations took
place in 1993. But in the following six years, the number of
investigations increased dramatically to an average of 191 a year,
reaching 378 in 1998.
This mirrors a dramatic change that followed the introduction of the
Horizon system to branches in 1999, in relation to the number of
subpostmasters convicted of financial crimes. According to a separate FOI request from 2020, in the seven years between 1991 and the year before Horizon’s introduction, an average of six subpostmasters were convicted per year,
compared with an average of 52 a year in the 13 years following its
introduction, until the Post Office stopped prosecuting in 2013.
After Capture was introduced, prosecutions increased, but to a much
smaller extent than investigations. However, the Post Office contract
meant subpostmasters who had unexplained shortfalls, which the
investigations typically related to, had to cover those shortfalls with
their own money or face the termination of their contracts or
prosecution.
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009,
revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they
suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most
widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.
Horizon is a large, complex, networked system connected to
centralised services with links to Post Office systems, which all
subpostmasters have to use. In contrast, the Capture system was a
PC-based application developed by the Post Office
and uploaded to a personal computer by subpostmasters to carry out
their accounts. The software – referred to by some users as a “glorified
spreadsheet” – was a standalone system, which was used by more than
1,500 subpostmasters.
After pressure, the government commissioned an investigation of Capture
to be carried out by forensic specialists Kroll. This report is now in
the hands of the government and its publication is expected soon.
Neil Hudgell, a solicitor at Hudgell Solicitors, which has about 40
former Capture users as clients, said he is confident that the content
of the report will be supportive of his clients’ claims.
Steve Marston was prosecuted in 1996 for theft and false accounting
following an unexplained shortfall of nearly £80,000 in his branch in
Bury, Lancashire. He said he had never had any problems using the
paper-based accounting system. This changed when his branch, which he
ran from 1973, began using Capture.
He covered the losses with his own money, but it kept getting worse.
After an audit revealed a loss he couldn’t fully cover out of his own
pocket, he was advised to plead guilty to theft and fraud to avoid jail.
The judge took into account two bravery awards Marston had received for
standing up to armed robbers, saving him a jail sentence. He was given a
12-month suspended sentence, lost his home and business, and went
bankrupt.
Marston said the stats in the latest FOI response provide a damning
indictment of the effects that the introduction of Capture had. “Are we
really expected to believe that, all of a sudden, honest and
hard-working postmasters who have substantial amounts of money invested
in their businesses have all gone rogue at the same time?
“Surely someone at the Post Office should have seen that the numbers
[of investigations] literally exploded after the introduction of
Capture, which we know to be unfit for purpose and, in my opinion,
should never have been made public.”
Marston, who will meet the government next week to discuss the
Capture controversy, said he hopes to get justice. The government is
expected to publish the Kroll report on Capture soon.
In June, Computer Weekly revealed another similarity between Capture and Horizon
in terms of inadequate training. Subpostmasters used pre-Horizon
Capture software without any training from the Post Office, a failing
that mirrors one of the causes of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Despite a Post Office document from 1995
outlining the training users received, former subpostmasters, who
encountered serious problems with Capture, have come forward revealing
they had no training. One of the major problems with the controversial
Horizon system was the lack of adequate training on using the system.
Computer Weekly has contacted the Post Office for comment.
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009,
revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they
suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most
widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.
Report 2
The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry resumed while we were away: I'm not going to have time to comment on what I haven't even started to watch/listen to, but this report from Mark Sweney of The Guardian shows that, whilst PO CEO Nick Read thinks he has changed the business structure, he really doesn't understand at all.
Post Office asked to use Horizon IT data to support criminal case this year, inquiry hears
The Post Office attempted to use Horizon IT data to support a
criminal case against a post office owner earlier this year, despite
hundreds of post office operators being wrongfully prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting because of bugs in the system.
A chain of email correspondence between the Post Office
and the Horizon developer, Fujitsu, relating to a police investigation
into a potential criminal case involving a “large sum of money” against a
sub-post office operator was shown at the public inquiry into the
scandal on Tuesday.
An email was sent by John Bartlett, the head of investigations at the Post Office, to Fujitsu
describing the Post Office as the “potential victim” and asking for the
software company to provide a witness statement to the police or the
case would not be able to progress.
The issue was rapidly
escalated to Paul Patterson, the chief executive of Fujitsu Europe, who
wrote directly to the Post Office chief executive, Nick Read.
“I
am writing to you directly in order to raise serious concerns that have
come to my attention which indicate the Post Office continues to pursue
enforcement against postmasters and expects Fujitsu to support such
actions,” he said in an email in May.
“We are concerned by the
behaviour of the Post Office investigation team on this matter. That
team maintains the approach of the Post Office as a ‘victim’ and
requires Fujitsu to provide a witness statement as to the reliability of
Horizon data stating that without such statement the case will not
progress. For the investigations team to act in this manner seems to
disregard the serious criticism raised in multiple judicial findings and
indeed exhibits a lack of respect to the ongoing inquiry.”
Read
responded by saying that there had been a “fundamental misunderstanding”
at Fujitsu about the “Post Office’s current day culture and
activities”.
He said that the Post Office was not continuing its
pursuit of post office operators in private prosecutions – “including
providing supporting data from the Horizon system” for cases – and that
it was to help a potential police investigation.
Patterson
responded saying that he considered the request to be “entirely
inappropriate”, adding that the Post Office is “well aware there have
been and there continue to be bugs, errors and defects in the Horizon
system”.
“It seems clear that the Post Office continues to have
significant cultural issues,” he said. “[It] sees itself as a ‘victim’
with the enforcement and prosecution of postmasters considered as a
business as usual activity. Fujitsu finds the language and the suggested
behaviour unacceptable from Post Office investigators.”
Between
1999 and 2015, the Post Office relentlessly pursued and wrongfully
prosecuted more than 700 operators using faulty Horizon IT data.
The
email request to Fujitsu came after ITV aired Mr Bates vs the Post
Office, which brought the plight of the post office operators and use of
the flawed data in legal actions to national attention.
UPDATE 2 October - REPORT 3
Post Office spending £80,000+ a week on engineers who can’t work, as IT project burns cash
In another Karl Flinders Computer Weekly report, it turns out that Horizon replacement NBIT isn't doing so well either.
The Post Office has been paying more than £80,000 per week for
contracted IT engineers to sit idle due to major delays in rolling out
hardware for its New Business IT (NBIT) project.
In yet another example of taxpayers’ money being wasted, as the Post Office tries to rid itself of the system at the centre of a scandal,
Computer Weekly can reveal that £1.6m could be spent on IT staff who
are unable to do work they were contracted to do. This is as a result of
issues with power supply units that can’t be used in the project to
replace the controversial Horizon system. The NBIT project has already
gone from a costing of £180m to £1bn.*
The latest waste was revealed as the Post Office scandal public
inquiry was told by two former Post Office executives – chairman Henry
Staunton and chief financial officer (CFO) Alisdair Cameron – this week
that the NBIT project lacks governance.
According to an internal Post Office NBIT progress update, under the
heading “high level issues”, tech engineers from IT supplier DXC, who
were contracted in mid-June, have no work to do due to the issues with
power supply units. The engineers will have to wait 16 to 20 weeks
before replacement units are available, allowing them to complete the
work they were contracted to do.
I'm not writing much about the Post Office Horizon Scandal these days. The Inquiry is progressing, but if you tired (as I did) of watching the corporate amnesia rife at the top of Post Office Ltd, affecting directors, Chief Counsel, other lawyers, and other senior managers, take a look at the evidence yesterday of Second Sight's Ron Warmington and Ian Henderson.
In the latest example of staggering incompetence when all eyes are on them, Post Office Ltd has published on its website a very private 'Confidential Settlement Deed' - with unredacted details of 592 former sub-postmasters including full names and addresses of people who are shortly (or not so shortly) likely to receive substantial sums of money.
The article in full (my highlighting).
The bungling Post Office has published the names and home addresses of the postmasters it persecuted during the Horizon scandal.
In what appears to be a staggering data breach, 'cavalier' workers
printed their private details on its website for anyone to see, the Mail
can reveal.
Having already ruined many lives by falsely accusing them of stealing,
the Post Office's latest betrayal has been branded an insult to injury –
and furious victims alerted by the Mail are vowing to 'make them pay'.
On the very day its IT specialists are being grilled at the Horizon
inquiry, the alleged data breach marks yet another breathtaking IT
failure for the organisation. It
published on its corporate website a dossier of 592 wronged postmasters
who were involved in suing the Post Office in 2019 - showing their full
names and home addresses including postcode, making it easy for anyone
to find them. Many are poised to receive significant sums of money in
compensation for Britain's biggest ever miscarriage of justice, and told
of their anger at their home addresses being exposed.
Humiliatingly, the document containing the details is entitled 'Confidential Settlement Deed'
and spells out in black and white that its contents are private. It is
even signed by the Post Office's own senior lawyer – and yet it has been
posted onto its website in full.
After the Mail informed the Post Office this afternoon, it changed its
website to remove the offending list. But former postmasters are
'incandescent'. And the embattled Post Office now potentially faces
another investigation, this time by the Information Commissioner who
takes breaches of personal data extremely seriously.
Last year the commissioner levied a £1million fine on the Ministry of Defence for losing the data of 245 people.
The 592 former postmasters whose home addresses have been published were
among the group involved in bringing High Court class litigation
against the Post Office in 2019. Hundreds of innocents were bankrupted,
jailed or driven to suicide after being wrongly accused of plundering
their own tills between 1999 and 2015, when money appearing to be
'missing' from their branch accounts was really the result of glitches
in the company's Horizon computer system.
The list includes those who brought the scandal to life in ITV's
acclaimed four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office which triggered
national outrage at the way the former pillars of their communities were
tormented.
Wendy Buffrey, 64,who ran a branch in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with
her husband Doug until their malfunctioning Horizon terminal invented a
£36,000 shortfall and she was prosecuted as a thief, said: 'I'm
incandescent. I'm just so angry. We all thought they couldn't do any
more to us than they've already done.
'They need to pay for this. It's yet another thing they've done that
could potentially destroy one of our lives. They just don't stop, do
they?
'People out there in the outside world know that we're all going to get
compensation payments - and all our home details are out there? It's
absolutely horrendous.'
Nichola Arch, 53, falsely accused of theft at her Chalford Hill post
office in Gloucestershire, said: 'They seem to be completely
incompetent. Our personal information is out there for anybody, and that
is absolutely disgusting. To say it's adding insult to injury is the
understatement of the year.
Nichola Arch, 53, was falsely accused of theft at her Chalford Hill post office
'People know that, due to the extent of this scandal, people are going
to get compensation. Now if they've got our names and addresses, people
know exactly where that money is, and that can bring out all sorts of
anxiety to victims because they'll be thinking, 'God is somebody going
to break in?' It's horrific.'
Deirdre Connolly, 54, who ran the post office in Killeter, Northern
Ireland, with her husband Darius until they were falsely accused of
stealing – and was even asked if they had 'taken the money for
paramilitaries' - said: 'I can't believe it. My home address is on that
website? My home, my family - what the f***?'
Her husband, 53, claimed: 'It's absolute incompetence. The fact that
they can't keep people's names and addresses private tells you all you
need to know about how they run their computer system.'
Ron Warmington, the forensic investigator whose firm Second Sight was
hired to probe the faulty Horizon system in 2013, said: 'As if we needed
to see another example of Post Office incompetence! This is an
extraordinary breach of the confidentiality undertakings with which Post
Office so heavy handedly insisted that we must all - and for all time -
comply. It seems that Post Office deploys far greater firepower in
protecting its own data than it does in protecting data that names its
victims.'
Lord Arbuthnot, the peer who has championed the postmasters for years,
told the Mail: 'I long ago stopped expecting much, if anything, from the
Post Office, but for them to publicise the personal details of the
group litigation claimants is incompetent.
'Amongst so many other criminal offences committed by the Post Office,
this alleged data breach is yet a further intrusion into the privacy of
sub-postmasters and their ability to put the matter behind them. And it
answers the question as to whether the Post Office has learnt and
improved: it hasn't.'
The names and home addresses are listed in a 47-page legal agreement,
signed on 10 December 2019, which brought the High Court class action to
a settlement mid-way through the trial. The Post Office apparently
intended to publish on its website a 'redacted' version of the legal
agreement, with personal details covered by a censor's black ink. But
instead, the document was posted with everyone's personal details on
full display.
Raoul Lumb, a partner at law firm SMB who specialises in data
protection, said it appeared 'a remarkable breach' of the UK's data
protection laws known as GDPR and showed 'a cavalier disregard for the
rights of sub-postmasters'.
He said: 'The document, which is clearly marked as confidential, exposes
the names and addresses of every sub-postmaster who was a claimant in
the Alan Bates and others v Post Office litigation.
'It is particularly embarrassing for the Post Office because clause 12
of the document is a clause which explicitly obliges all the parties to
'keep [it] confidential'. Given that, it's difficult to see any
justification for the Post Office to have made it public in a completely
unredacted form.'
He said the Post Office has a duty to report the breach to the
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), and added: 'The leaking of it
will no doubt cause further distress to sub-postmasters who have already
suffered enough. You would expect the ICO to take an extremely dim view
of the breach given the clear expectation of confidentiality and the
vulnerability of the data subjects named in it. It would not surprise me
if the commissioner levied a fine to penalise the Post Office for this
seemingly very basic failure to manage its data securely.'
The Post Office said: 'The document in question has been removed from
our website. We are investigating as an urgent priority how it came to
be published. We are in the process of notifying the Information
Commissioner's Office of the incident, in line with our regulatory
requirements.'
The ICO said: 'We have not received a data breach report on this matter. Organisations must notify the ICO within 72 hours.'
There was considerable media coverage yesterday about the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal in the week that the Public Inquiry resumes hearing evidence.
In case you missed the publicity, and hence missed seeing the whole of today's sessions with Alan Bates, you can catch up on the Inquiry's YouTube channel here.
You can watch each session live, but if you watch the following day in catch-up mode you can advance the speed of playback through the YouTube settings cog.
The list of witnesses - all of whom will have provided written statements answering questions put to them by the Inquiry's legal team is lengthy.
The timetable for Phase 5:
Day
Witness
Evidence Week 1
Tuesday 9 April
Alan Bates -former sub-postmaster and Founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance
Wednesday 10 April
The Rt. Hon. Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom -Member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board; and former MP for North East Hampshire
The Rt. Hon. Sir Anthony Hooper -former Lord Justice of Appeal and former Chair of the Working Group for the Initial Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme
Thursday 11 April
David Smith -former Managing Director of Post Office Ltd
Sir Michael Hodgkinson -former Chair of Post Office Ltd and former Senior Non-Executive Director of Royal Mail Holdings plc
Friday 12 April
Alan Cook -former Independent Non-Executive Director and Managing Director of Post Office Ltd
Adam Crozier -former CEO of Royal Mail Group Ltd and former director of Royal Mail Holdings plc
Evidence Week 2
Tuesday 16 April
David Miller -former Managing Director of Post Office Network, former Chief Operating Officer of Post Office Ltd and temporary Managing Director of Post Office Ltd
David Mills -former Chief Executive of Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 17 April
Jon Longman -former Post Office Investigator
Allan Leighton -former Chair of Royal Mail Holdings plc; former Chair and former Non Executive Director of Post Office Ltd; and former Non Executive Director of Royal Mail Group
Thursday 18 April
Rodric Williams -former Litigation Lawyer at Post Office Ltd and current Head of Legal (Dispute Resolution & Brand)
Friday 19 April
Rodric Williams -former Litigation Lawyer at Post Office Ltd and current Head of Legal (Dispute Resolution & Brand)
Evidence Week 3
Tuesday 23 April
Susan Crichton -former Company Secretary and General Counsel of Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 24 April
Chris Aujard -former General Counsel of Post Office Ltd
Thursday 25 April
Angela van den Bogerd -former People Services Director at Post Office Ltd and Programme Director for the Branch Support Programme
Friday 26 April
Angela van den Bogerd -former People Services Director at Post Office Ltd and Programme Director for the Branch Support Programme
Evidence Week 4
Tuesday 30 April
Hugh Flemington -former Head of Legal at Post Office Ltd
Harry Bowyer -Barrister and former employee of Cartwright King Solicitors
Wednesday 1 May
Martin Smith -Solicitor and former employee of Cartwright King Solicitors
Thursday 2 May
Martin Smith -Solicitor and former employee of Cartwright King Solicitors
Simon Clarke -Barrister and former Senior Counsel at Cartwright King Solicitors
Friday 3 May
Jarnail Singh -Solicitor and former lawyer at Royal Mail Group and Post Office Ltd
Evidence Week 5
Tuesday 7 May
Patrick Bourke -former Government Affairs and Policy Director at Post Office Ltd
Belinda Cortes-Martin (Crowe) -former Programme Director for Project Sparrow at Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 8 May
Brian Altman KC -Barrister
Thursday 9 May
Andrew Parsons -Partner at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP
Friday 10 May
Andrew Parsons -Partner at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP
Rod Ismay -former Head of Product & Branch Accounting at Post Office Ltd
Evidence Week 6
Tuesday 14 May
Mark Davies -former Group Communications & Corporate Affairs Director at Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 15 May
Chris Day -former Chief Financial Officer of Post Office Ltd
Thursday 16 May
Lesley Sewell -former Chief Information Officer at Post Office Ltd
Martin Edwards -former Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive and Group Strategy Director at Post Office Ltd
Friday 17 May
Alisdair Cameron -Chief Financial Officer and former Interim Chief Executive of Post Office Ltd
Evidence Week 7
Tuesday 21 May
Alwen Lyons -former Company Secretary of Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 22 May
Paula Vennells -former Group Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Ltd
Thursday 23 May
Paula Vennells -former Group Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Ltd
Friday 24 May
Paula Vennells -former Group Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Ltd
Half Term 25 May - 2 June
Registration for public gallery attendance for the following weeks will open in due course.
Day
Witness
Evidence Week 8
Monday 3 June
Ben Foat -Group General Counsel of Post Office Ltd
Jane MacLeod -former General Counsel and Company Secretary of Post Office Ltd
Tuesday 4 June
Jane MacLeod -former General Counsel and Company Secretary of Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 5 June
Alice Perkins -former Chair of Post Office Ltd
Thursday 6 June
Alice Perkins -former Chair of Post Office Ltd
Friday 7 June
Not sitting
Evidence Week 9
Tuesday 11 June
Anthony de Garr Robinson KC -Barrister
Lord Grabiner KC -Barrister
Wednesday 12 June
Tom Beezer -Partner at Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP
Ken McCall -former Senior Non-Executive Director of Post Office Ltd
Thursday 13 June
Andy Dunks -former IT Security Analyst at Fujitsu Services Ltd
Friday 14 June
Matthew Lenton -Document Manager, Post Office Account, at Fujitsu Services Ltd
Dame Moya Greene -former CEO of Royal Mail Group
Evidence Week 10
Tuesday 18 June
Ron Warmington -Director of Second Sight Support Services Limited
Ian Henderson -Director of Second Sight Support Services Limited
Wednesday 19 June
Richard Christou -former Chief Executive and Executive Chairman of Fujitsu Services Holdings plc
Duncan Tait -former Chief Executive of Fujitsu Services Ltd
Thursday 20 June
Tony Kearns -Senior Deputy General Secretary of the Communications Workers Union
Kay Linnell -Forensic Accountant and Advisor to the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance
Friday 21 June
George Thomson -former General Secretary of the National Federation of Subpostmasters
Evidence Week 11
Tuesday 25 June
Gareth Jenkins -former Distinguished Engineer at Fujitsu Services Ltd
Wednesday 26 June
Gareth Jenkins -former Distinguished Engineer at Fujitsu Services Ltd
Thursday 27 June
Gareth Jenkins -former Distinguished Engineer at Fujitsu Services Ltd
Friday 28 June
Gareth Jenkins -former Distinguished Engineer at Fujitsu Services Ltd
Evidence Week 12
Tuesday 2 July
Tim Parker -former Chair of Post Office Ltd
Wednesday 3 July
Tim Parker -former Chair of Post Office Ltd
Thursday 4 July
Sir Stephen Lovegrove -former Shareholder Executive Official
Patrick O’Sullivan -former Shareholder Executive Official
Friday 5 July
Susannah Storey -former Shareholder Executive / UK Government Investments Official
Mark Russell -Shareholder Executive / UK Government Investments Official
Evidence Week 13
Monday 8 July
Neil McCausland -former Senior Non-Executive Director and Interim Chair of Post Office Ltd
Tuesday 9 July
Robert Swannell -former Shareholder Executive / UK Government Investments Official
Wednesday 10 July
Tom Cooper -UK Government Investments Official
Thursday 11 July
Richard Callard -Shareholder Executive / UK Government Investments Official
Friday 12 July
Not sitting
Evidence Week 14
Tuesday 16 July
TBC
Wednesday 17 July
TBC
The Rt. Hon. Kelly Tolhurst MP -former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Thursday 18 July
The Rt. Hon. Pat McFadden MP -former Minister of State for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Employment Relations and Postal Affairs); Former Minister of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Davey MP -former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs)
Friday 19 July
Jo Swinson -former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs)
Evidence Week 15
Tuesday 23 July
Baroness Neville-Rolfe -former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; Minister of State at the Cabinet Office
Wednesday 24 July
Margot James -former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Thursday 25 July
The Rt. Hon. Sir Vince Cable -former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Rt. Hon. Greg Clark MP -former Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
News about British stamps - welcome to Norvic Philatelics' blog
News as we get it relies on what I find and what other people find, so please send your news! [email: ian@norphil.co.uk or wild1952@gmail.com
Tel: 08450 090939] Please do NOT send emails through our shop platform as we have to login there to see them and cannot see your email address. Visit Norvic Philatelics for background on stamp issues and postmarks from 2003-2018, and our web-shop for stamps, postal history, FDCs and postcards.
All basicimages of British stamps and postmarks are the Copyright of Royal Mail* reproduced here with permission. All enlargements or scans showing particular features are copyright Norvic Philatelics or other collectors. You may quote from the blog or website, if you acknowledge the source, including the original source and any name mentioned in our blog, for images. (*Contact Royal Mail's Intellectual Property Office for permission.)
Note: We will only accept guest blog posts on philatelic subjects.
Oops, I've bought more stationery!
-
Oops, don't I have enough stationery for my letter writing hobby? Yes, but
that doesn't stop me from buying more. This month, I have ordered and
received...
Shepton Mallet post office staff, 1905
-
Here's a bit of material that I've just acquired - in October I attended
the Somerset & Dorset Postal History Group Autumn meeting in Chard and
acquired ...
ROC ~ 2026 CLNY - Year of Horse FDCs
-
Republic of China (Taiwan) 2026 Chinese Lunar New Year - Year of Horse
express registered FDCs, posted on December 1, 2025 from south Taiwan
Tainan...
Up-to-date Horizon label service indicator list
-
Hi.
I haven't seen any recent lists of service indicators used on Post Office
Horizon labels, so I've made one, based on existing older ones.
I u...
-
*IPDA Branded Sale Event on Hipstamp - October 10th through October 12th*
Please visit our store *cddstamps *as we are participating in this event
w...
New King Charles III Horizon Labels
-
Today 31st July 2023 is the last day of validity for the old style Machins
without a barcode. So it is now an official fact and a sad day. It is also
guar...
More about Horizon labels
-
It has taken a while but I think I now have a reasonably good idea of the
development of these labels. Much of the information I gleaned from Postage
Label...
I Focus... On the 1d Yellow Ochre (Part 2)
-
In my previous blog post I launched a new series focusing on the life and
times of the 1d yellow ochre Machin head stamp. In that blog I discovered
the su...
Worldwide New Issues Week 05 2018 - Part VI
-
*10 FEB 2018*
*ITALY*
(US$1 = € 0.809)
Italian Vocalists
*URUGUAY*
(US$1 = U$ 28.368)
Year of the Dog
*11 FEB 2018*
*BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA (CROA...
New Blog!
-
I have created a new blog covering postmarks of everything except
Lithuania. Check it out if you are interested!
https://postmarkcollecting.blogspot.com
The End of a Stamp Collection
-
I am selling my life-long collection of stamps from Denmark.
It's an odd-- and totally unexpected-- thing for me to be writing. After
all, I had expected I...
Millennium 16 : CN Tower
-
*[This post is another in a series profiling each of the 68 stamps issued
by Canada Post Corporation on September 15, 1999 on the occasion of the new
Mill...
