Access to cash is becoming an increasing problem for many people and small businesses as banks close branches and remove free-to-use ATMs.
Yet the withdrawal of these services from the high street has a terrible side effect: it focuses the minds of criminals on the important role that post offices still play in providing cash facilities.
As a result, criminals are targeting post offices and committing daring and violent robberies in the hunt for hard cash.
On February 19, a post office in the small village of Monk Fryston in North Yorkshire fell victim to such a robbery. It’s an experience owners Karen and Adrian Bullock never want to have again.
In fact, it was so traumatic that they decided to close the post office and concentrate on running the supermarket and their bed and breakfast business.
Trauma story: Jeff Prestridge with Karen and Adrian Bullock outside their shop in North Yorkshire
Although the Post Office says otherwise, Karen is convinced that small post offices like hers are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cash robberies, and that some of the measures recommended to thwart the criminals simply leave staff more exposed to violent attacks.
“There isn’t a night that I don’t wake up with the thought that someone is breaking into our house or our shop, looking for the money we take as a post office,” says 57-year-old Karen. ‘For the first time since we moved here two years ago, I feel unsafe. It’s a terrible feeling.
“We thought this would be our last job before we both retired, but now we’re not so sure.”
We are sitting in Adrian and Karen’s living room, at the back of their village shop and post office.
It’s gray and raining outside, yet it’s quite idyllic in so many other ways. The shop is an all-rounder, selling everything from delicious chocolate flapjacks (yes, I succumbed), everyday household items, chicken curry patties to homemade pickles and jams.
The adjoining house is spacious and overflowing with ornaments that reveal Karen’s love of horses.
The four-bedroom B&B shines after a recent renovation, with beds as wide as they are long and a breakfast room adorned with numerous Visit England certificates recognizing the quality of Adrian’s breakfasts.
“He cooks mean English,” Karen admits. “He’s the king of the kitchen.” The 61-year-old is also a part-time agronomist – a soil management expert who advises farmers.
Apart from The Crown pub and a wedding venue which is currently closed, the village shop is the heart of Monk Fryston – a name, originally Monk Free Stone, which it acquired because the quarry supplied materials for nearby Selby Abbey.
Karen loves that the store is embedded in the community. She is an informal caregiver by profession and does her utmost to help everyone in the village. Almost ten years ago she founded Snydale Riding For The Disabled Association – close to where she previously lived – which won her a British Empire Medal last year.
Weapon: One of the robbers was armed with a claw hammer (file photo)
The robbery took place on a Monday afternoon. The exact time is forever etched in Karen’s brain. “It was 4:50,” she says.
‘I was sitting exactly where I am now, on the couch. Susie and Joanne, two of our six part-time assistants, were in the store: Susie in the small post office, Joanne in the store. Our three-year-old Maltese Shih Tzu was dozing next to me while Adrian stood in the kitchen.
‘Suddenly Joanne ran into the house looking dripping white. ‘We’re being robbed. They’ve got Susie,” she exclaimed. I followed Adrian into the store and saw a man with a roofing claw hammer.
‘I screamed and dragged Adrian back before the robber could use it against him. The other man, who had confronted Susie, jumped over the counter and they ran out the door into a waiting van which was driven away at high speed.’
What they didn’t realize is that Mel, the local postman, was in the store at the time of the robbery and had become unconscious during the struggle, injuring his arm when he crashed into a cupboard.
Karen called 999 and after a three-hour wait an ambulance took him to hospital. Although he was fired the next day, he still has to go to work. “He’s on the mend,” Karen says reassuringly.
The robbers made off with £1,650 in cash: £650 from the shop till and £1,000 from the post office mini safe.
Karen and Adrian’s intervention likely stopped the criminals from targeting the main vault elsewhere. Although Susie pressed the post office’s panic button associated with a security company, there was no response.
While Karen has nothing but praise for the police – and was pleased with the post office’s quick response – she says the thought of another robbery is too much to bear.
“The post office told us we would have to have an extended delay of four minutes at the safe, and also recommended a button that would release smoke when pressed by an employee,” says Karen.
“We believe these measures will only increase the risks to our staff if we are robbed again. They can stir up the criminals, and we are not prepared to agree to that.”
To our regret, the post office will be closed at the beginning of June. A notice on the shop window breaks the news – and Karen, the author, doesn’t hesitate to assign blame.
‘Social changes such as the closure of banks and the removal of ATMs have led to more and more large sums of cash being processed in post offices. As a result, local post offices have become easy targets for criminal gangs.’
Locals are sympathetic to Karen’s decision and regret the violence committed by the criminals, but to use a post office they will now have to travel to the nearby villages of Brayton, Brotherton and Sherburn.
Disappear: The withdrawal of banks and ATMs from the high street focuses criminals’ minds on the role that post offices still play in providing cash facilities
Karen says Keir Mather, the Labor MP for Selby and Ainsty, supported them and came to visit them in the aftermath of the robbery.
He has since called for rural post offices to be given extra security measures in the wake of the rising crime threat.
The Post Office told Money Mail: ‘This was a truly horrific incident and we have offered our support to the postmistress, her husband and their staff.
‘We are pleased with the seriousness with which police are treating this crime and we hope the criminals are brought to justice.’
Yet it also wanted to downplay the crime threat. It said that when robberies did occur, it was usually the retail side of the business that was targeted – most of the country’s 11,500 post offices are located in a supermarket or village shop.
It added that the number of robberies that took place at post offices in February was largely in line with February 2023, but the amount lost in those robberies fell by 57 percent.
It also said there was no evidence of a trend of postal workers returning keys due to attempted or actual robberies.
The statement added: ‘While criminal incidents do occur, they are fortunately rare, and the number of incidents has decreased over the years, partly due to better security equipment and improved security procedures in branches. When there is a crime incident, we learn lessons to help improve safety for all postal workers in our network.”
Nationwide Building Society, which like the Post Office is a major high street banking provider, told Money Mail that the number of criminal attacks had ‘been slightly higher recently’. It added: ‘We are proactively working with police and other financial institutions to support efforts to arrest and prosecute those behind criminal activity.
‘As an industry we are also working with charities Crimestoppers and Neighborhood Watch to raise awareness of organized criminal activity targeting ATMs. We would encourage anyone who sees anything unusual to report it to their local police.”
As for the criminals who robbed Karen and Adrian’s post office six weeks ago, one person was arrested and subsequently released on bail. An arrest warrant has been issued for another person – both live outside the area.
Karen won’t have peace until they’re behind bars.
“The sleepless nights will definitely continue,” she says. ‘These people have put a wrecking ball through our company. Such criminals must be stopped.
“They are destroying small communities like ours, which are the fabric of this country. And I’m sorry to say, the banks are partly responsible.’
jeff.prestridge@dailymail.co.uk
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