Coventry North East MP, Bob Ainsworth will be meeting with David Mills, Chief Executive of Post Office Limited on Thursday 12th February at 2pm in the House of Commons to discuss the efficiency of the Post Offices current foreign currency transaction procedures.  This follows the case of Mr Nichols from Coventry who faces prosecution in Greece for the passing counterfeit notes he says he purchased from the Post Office.

In a letter to Bob Ainsworth, David Mills confirmed that the Post Office is to install scanning equipment in all Post Office Branches offering a Bureau de Change service by the end of March 2004.  However, he also confirmed that they had no plans to improve their procedures further by recording denominations or serial numbers of notes handed out in foreign currency transactions.

While Bob Ainsworth welcomes the commitment to install scanning machines he still believes that there are serious questions to be asked about the Post Offices security procedures and on that premise requested a meeting to discuss further possible improvements in procedure.

Bob Ainsworth said “I am pleased that the Post Office has agreed to meet and discuss both the case of Mr Nichols and further possible improvements in procedure.

“I welcome the speedy installation of scanning machines into all Post Offices offering a Bureau de Change service; However, I find it incredulous that the Post Office remain adamant that this improvement in procedure was not in any way influenced by the case of Mr Nichols.

“Furthermore, while these improvements in security procedures are most welcome I still believe that the Post Offices refusal to record serial numbers and denominations of notes is a mistake.  The introduction of these measures would, I believe, further enhance security for customers

“I will be seeking from this meeting, confirmation that the Post Office will do all it can to assist Mr Nichols in preparing his defence case and also seek assurances that they are committed to further procedure improvements and requesting a possible reconsideration of their refusal to implement the recording of the denominations and serial numbers of notes handed out in foreign currency transactions.”