Post Office branches welcome more customers in wake of ITV Horizon drama
Post Office branches are welcoming more customers since the plight of their workers was dramatised on television, campaigners say.
A total of 9.2 million people watched the first episode of ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which told of how sub-postmasters were blamed and prosecuted for shortfalls that did not exist.
Now, research cited on the Today programme suggests the impact of the drama had gone even further - and has prompted more shoppers to visit Post Offices to support workers in branches.
Rose Marley, chief executive of trade body Co-operatives UK, told the BBC: “We saw with the ITV drama, the mood of the nation, there’s a lot of love for the Post Office branches.
“In fact, Richard Trinder, from Voice of the Postmaster, his anecdotal report is that since that drama, footfall into Post Office branches has gone up and he’s just getting the quantitative information on that.”
The Telegraph has attempted to contact Mr Trinder and Voice of the Postmaster - a campaign for current staff.
Ms Marley attended a meeting which discussed the future of the Post Office as an organisation, where Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake was joined by union reps among others.
Among other ideas, attendees discussed whether the Post Office could become a mutual, which could see sub-postmasters and other staff own the majority of the company’s shares.
However, Mr Hollinrake reportedly laid out three “specific challenges” that could impact whether this change could take place.
Ms Marley said: “One is the liabilities that have been created by PO Ltd which includes the compensation bill now.
“The second challenge is around the IT systems.”
She added: “And then the third challenge is around that changed consumer behaviour and market that we are seeing across the board.
“Banks closing, for example, because of the sustainability, what we are hearing from the postmaster network, the cost of living and the challenges around that.
“But specifically those are the three things that a minister said a task force would have to address.”
Sean Hudson, the Post Office branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union, told Bloomberg last week that the current structure of the Post Office was “broken” and said giving sub-postmasters a greater stake in their company represented a “very attractive alternative”.
Responding to the report last week, Mr Hollinrake told The Telegraph the organisation was “not in a position” to mutualise “right now”.
He added: “We’ve always said mutualisation is one of the options for the Post Office in the longer term.
“But there are some very big-ticket items hanging over the Post Office right now, not least the compensation scheme and the rebuilding of the IT systems.
“Our position has been in the past and will remain so in the immediate future that it would be the wrong time to go down that route. That’s not to say it can’t be done at a later stage.”
