Postmaster who moved abroad missed deadline oncompensation
Post Office worker was in Sri Lanka when he had to apply to fund and was not told that he was eligible
THE Post Office is being urged to compensate an elderly man with memory loss who moved to Sri Lanka after losing his life savings during the IT scandal.
Abdul Abdeen, 85, spent 15 years running a Post Office in Guildford, Surrey and spent almost £100,000 making good shortfalls that were flagged by a faulty IT system.
More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly convicted between 2000 and 2012 after the Post Office blamed them for shortfalls that were the result of Horizon. Others only escaped prosecution because they were able to settle the balances.
The Post Office established a fund for those who suffered financial losses but the three-month application window closed in November 2020. Mr Abdeen missed the deadline to apply for compensation but his family are calling on the company to make an exception as he has been living abroad and was not told that he was eligible.
Campaigners said dozens of other postmasters could be living abroad and have not realised that they were entitled to compensation. The Post Office said it had received more than 100 applications since the deadline passed but is not yet sure how to treat them.
It comes a year since wrongful convictions of subpostmasters were first overturned, with most saying they are no closer to agreeing a settlement for financial compensation from the firm.
Mr Abdeen moved to Sri Lanka in 2005 with his wife, Vanessa, to make “what little money they had go further” after losing tens of thousands during their time running the post office.
Mrs Abdeen, 75, said the ordeal had taken a huge toll on her husband, who rarely got to see his two young children “because he was in the post office all night trying to balance the books”.
“We started losing considerable amounts and my husband was paying it. The money was just going. It was a waterfall. One week it would be £200, another £1,000. It was a constant feed of money into the Post Office.”
Ms Abdeen said her husband, who moved to Britain aged 19, “had always been a businessman and worked with money. When this happened he thought there was something wrong with him.”
“You start doubting yourself the whole time. He came in a young man and when he left he was old. He aged so much. We finally sold it to cut our losses. It was so wearing and the atmosphere was awful.” Ms Abdeen said the
‘It wasn’t great bringing up the kids in that environment. We were poor’
couple started “racking up credit” as most of their savings “were going into a bottomless pit”.
“It wasn’t great bringing up the kids in that environment,” she said. “We didn’t go on holidays and we couldn’t come to see grandmother in Sri Lanka. We were poor.”
“If my husband hadn’t paid he would have ended up in prison,” she said.
The couple, who were not aware that they may be able to claim compensation until the start of the public inquiry last month gained media attention.
Alan Bates, a former postmaster and early campaigner, said: “My suggestion for postmasters who have missed the deadline is that they should contact the MP of the constituency in which they used to live. There should be a mechanism for all of this because there will be a lot more publicity and more people will come out of the woodwork.”
Angela Richardson, MP for Guildford, is now reviewing the case.
The Post Office is now reviewing how to assist those who have missed the deadline but it is at the mercy of the government, its sole shareholder, for funding. The Post Office said: “We want to ensure that full, fair and final compensation is provided equitably for postmasters affected. When the Historic Shortfall Scheme opened, we wrote to thousands of former Postmasters, which included those traced as living abroad, about how to apply.
“Compensation offers have been made to more than half of the 2,367 eligible applicants to the Scheme and of those the majority have already been accepted and paid.”