A former Inverness sub-postmaster is calling on the government to end their suffering and finally make good on their promises.
For more than a quarter of his life, Peter Worsfold, 78, has been fighting for justice.
In 2002, he was sacked after auditors claimed up to £3,000 was unaccounted for at his Post Office branch in Muirtown.
The financial problems were not caused by dishonesty but instead, by the Post Office Ltd’s flawed accounting software, called Horizon.
In May last year, Mr Worsfold gave evidence at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry claiming he had paid around £37,000 of his own hard-earned cash to plug the gap.
To date, victims have been paid interim payments.
However, Mr Worsfold says it’s not enough to put them on the straight and narrow.
‘There seems to be no end to this’
The Inverness pensioner is now calling on the government to give victims what they deserve to help them rebuild their lives.
He said: “20 years of my life, I have been fighting this.
“Now I’m retired, it plays on my mind all the time and I’m scared to spend money.
“We’ve had interim payments but there seems to be no end to this. It’s a saga that’s going on and on.
“2002 this happened to me and I’ve been suffering all this time and all I have got to live on is the old age pension, the government pension.
“It is beyond belief.
“The government need to stop making promises that they don’t keep.
“It was over two years ago they said that we needed to be compensated.
“We’ve been given interim payments, but that just means you’re frittering it away.
“We need a lump sum that we can invest to get a decent income.
“We need this money desperately to put our lives straight and put us on an even keel for the years that we’ve got left.”
Government offer £600k compensation to victims
His remarks come just days after the government offered £600,000 compensation to sub-postmasters who had wrongful convictions overturned.
More than 700 post office staff around the country were wrongly convicted or accused of theft because of the faulty software.
Footfall to Mr Worsfold’s Costcutter store declined in 2002 after the Post Office closed and he struggled to sell the businesses.
Up until 2020 and the arrival of the Covid pandemic, Mr Worsfold worked 12-hours seven days a week.
Now, the 78-year-old relies solely on his government pension; which he says barely goes the distance.
He added: “They just don’t understand these people what they have put us all through.
“Every year, more and more of us die.
“The solicitors are trying to do as much as they can but every time they put barriers up to stop us.
“I can’t see an end to it.”
