Government must 'step up' on postmaster redress

A Surrey sub-postmaster has said the government must "do a considerable amount more" to compensate Post Office scandal victims.

Chirag Sidhpura took over Farncombe Post Office in 2013 and says he was falsely accused of stealing more than £50,000 due to the faulty Horizon IT system.

He told BBC Radio Surrey that he was offered 26% of his original compensation claim and still had to "battle and fight" for the rest.

The government said it had paid out over £1bn to postmasters and launched an appeal process for anyone unhappy with their offer.

Between 1999 and 2015 the Horizon IT system incorrectly made it appear that money was missing from branch accounts.

More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted, but many victims are still waiting for financial redress.

Mr Sidhpura's comments come the same day as the Public Accounts Committee said in a report that many wrongly-accused or convicted sub-postmasters were yet to receive "fair and timely" redress.

Mr Sidhpura put "hundreds of hours of work" into his compensation claim, he said, but the Post Office "still want more and more evidence".

The father of three has now retained a solicitor but has "no idea how long it's going to take" to resolve his claim, and is calling for the government to "step up".

"I'm just not sure how much more evidence we can provide," Mr Sidhpura said.

The Post Office said Mr Sidhpura "should have received a letter explaining how to appeal the offer" of compensation.

It added it was "sincerely sorry for past failings" and "focused, alongside government, on paying redress as quickly as possible".

The Department for Business and Trade said: "We pay tribute to all the postmasters including Chirag who have suffered from the Horizon scandal and recognise the suffering that this has caused."

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