New Quay Post Office has reopened following the settling of a dispute which arose after a fraudster made off with almost £600 from the South John Street branch last week.

Sub-postmaster John Barrett closed the branch for a weekend, as he said the Post Office insisted that he was liable for the loss.

“I cannot accept the significant risk of losses due to criminal activity,” he told the Cambrian News.

Mr Barrett, who has run the post office at the Corner Shop since 2016, said that after realising a considerable amount of cash was missing, he detected the sleight-of-hand fraud by spotting a suspicious customer on CCTV.

“Gut feeling said there was something wrong but it took about four viewings of the video at slow motion to spot what he had done,” he added.

Mr Barrett took the decision to close the branch after he says he was told he was liable for the amount lost.

“New Quay Post Office only just breaks even financially and I was willing to run it as a service to the community,” he said.

“However, running at a loss because of criminal activity is something I cannot do. The Post Office may be able to afford big losses, I cannot.”

Speaking last Tuesday evening, a Post Office spokesperson said: “We have listened carefully to the concerns raised and we have been liaising with Mr Barrett to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

“We are pleased to confirm that New Quay Post Office will reopen tomorrow (Wednesday)."

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now