“Any allegation that fake stamps have been purchased at a Post Office is extremely serious. The implication of such an allegation is that one of our postmasters, or a member of their staff, has obtained fake stamps and have chosen to sell them to customers rather than selling legitimate stamps that have come from Royal Mail’s secure printers.

“This is why we insist that any customer who thinks they may have purchased a fake stamp from a Post Office must produce an itemised receipt so that this can be looked into further.

Fucking ass covering bullshit. Just ignore the most likely reason, which is that your readers are malfunctioning, and avoid investigating because who the fuck keeps receipts for stamps?

“Lets make Royal Mail private. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.”

It's such a stupid system too - you receive a note saying "pay us £5 to deliver your post" with no way of knowing what they were trying to deliver - it could be something important, it could be someone sending a blank envelope just to annoy you and waste your money.

Makes one nervous that this will be yet another scandal in which postmasters & postmistresses end up under attack...

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Members of the public have complained they had to pay £5 penalties to collect post because the stamps were deemed to be counterfeit, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Postmasters have said the allegedly fake stamps were bought from Royal Mail directly, prompting fears that they are wrongly being identified as counterfeit.

On Tuesday night, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said he had held a meeting with Royal Mail chief executive Martin Seidenberg.

Mr Hollinrake told the Telegraph: “We spoke to Royal Mail and they are investigating and they are working alongside the Post Office and other retailers to try and ascertain the source of the problem.”

This includes a thorough examination using specialist equipment, then a follow-up inspection by a skilled member of the team before any stamp is marked as counterfeit or pre-used.”

“This is why we insist that any customer who thinks they may have purchased a fake stamp from a Post Office must produce an itemised receipt so that this can be looked into further.

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