Britain

By Mike Kennard

The Post Office Horizon scandal is a saga which goes on as the public enquiry lays bare the duplicity and perjury of senior executives,  and following a deep examination in a 10-part BBC Radio 4 documentary and the much publicised ITV drama.  

Without doubt, the lives of thousands of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses were devastated.   What has not been considered quite so much is the effect on communities where the local subpostoffices have been lost.

Burham is a working class village with about 1,600 inhabitants sitting at the foot of the North Downs in Kent.  What had been a minor waypoint on the Pilgrims Way which runs through the village grew, suddenly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as chalk quarries and cement works burgeoned in the Medway Gap.  

By the 1980s, most of the quarries and cement works were closed, but the settlements which served them remained. Much of the housing consists of small terraces as will be seen in any mining or industrial community. In the 1980s, there was a village shop, a bakery, four pubs and a garage – and a subpostoffice.

Village cut off with snow for a week

The Post Office was the hub of the village. It was where people cashed their giros and drew their pensions, posted their letters and parcels and exchanged news and gossip. Dorothy and Martin (names have been changed) bought the business when the previous owners retired after many decades serving the community. 

Dorothy ran the business, while Martin worked as a jobbing carpenter to boost their income, and in the shop they stocked basic DIY components and haberdashery. She was a postmistress of discretion, knowing when to gossip and when to keep quiet about things that she had learned. Pete the postman (a real person) would discreetly let her know if he had concerns about any residents and she would pass information on to appropriate agencies.

The Post Office really came into its own in the ‘Big Snow’, when the village was cut off for a whole week. The community pulled together; the shops and pubs provided the means of life (although some customers had to change their favourite tipple when the beer started to run out) and the sons of the grocery shop owners dragged a sled across the fields to get milk and other essentials. 

It was a completely closed economy, with the same cash circulating in the community.  The shops and pubs banked their money at the post office which functioned as a clearing bank. Dorothy paid out pensions and benefits and cashed customers’ cheques – and the customers spent their money in the shops and pubs.

Suddenly and without warning, after more than 20 years of ownership by Dorothy and Martin, the Post Office closed.  The premises were sold and became the office of a chartered accountant. Elderly and vulnerable people, especially those who had difficulty with banking and had no on-line access, had to travel to neighbouring villages, even those with mobility problems. 

Royal Mail sold off at a knock-down price 

The local grocery shop and the garage were able to sell stamps, but it was a decade before commercial parcel collection services became available. The social function of the post office was lost forever – the gossip, meeting contemporaries at the counter while drawing a pension, all part of the social cohesion of a small community.

When Royal Mail was sold off at a knock-down price by Vince Cable, the LibDem minister in the Cameron austerity government, Post Office Counters was retained in public ownership but with a completely capitalist style of management.  Overpaid senior executives cared nothing for the people running the subpostoffices, preferring to deal with larger chains like McColls, a Morrisons subsidiary.   They ignored warnings that the Horizon programme was faulty, vindictively pursuing non-existent debts and prosecuting hard-working shop owners while lying to Parliament and the courts.

This episode should be a cautionary tale for socialists advocating nationalisation.   Simply taking ownership of the assets is not enough, whether it be the coal industry, the railways or a vital social communication service like the Post Office.   Without significant representation at the highest level of those who work in the industry or service and who know most about it, inefficiency and corruption are inevitable.  

The top executives in the Post Office should be jailed for their perjury and their fat pensions taken away. postmasters and postmistresses must be fully compensated.  Also, a new democratic model of ownership and control must be implemented, taking into account not only the running of the service but also its social context.

Top picture from ITVX website, advertising the ITV programme on the scandal