Save our post offices from B-movie gangsters

This is a black-and-white gangster movie. The door closes and a couple of hoodlums stand menacingly over your shoulder as a fat man in a pin-striped suit pushed a document across the table before your eyes.

The situation is made perfectly clear. There is no way to escape the cramped and sweaty room without signing those papers. Gentle Mafia-style words of encouragement are whispered in your ear. Agree to absolute secrecy and you can expect a £60,000 pay off. Double-cross by refusing to sign and you may be left out in the cold with nothing - and in this line of work you need friends.

Whichever way you look at it your business is still going to be closed down by the mob. The hush money is tempting while the veiled threat has menacing overtones. What do you do? You can't afford to be a hero - so you sign.

This is a scene being acted out up and down the country. The actors look different and the sets rarely wobble but the general storyline remains the same, though in most cases the dialogue is often more hammy. It is a reality faced by the 2,500 post offices earmarked for the chop over the next 18 months.

Step forward David Masters, a 71-year-old subpostmaster who is taking up the High Noon role of Gary Cooper and not willing to bow down to the bullies. He refused to follow the tightly controlled script and asked a lawyer to sit in on his meeting when told to sign a confidentiality agreement last month.

The solicitor was appalled Post Office bosses thought they could act in such as high-handed manner and he threw the gagging order right back in their faces. They then went on with the meeting without him signing the secrecy agreement.

Of course, nothing actually changed. The beautiful post office in the Northamptonshire village of Upper Harlestone still faces the axe. But David has given him more of a fighting chance of survival by rallying troops to back his cause because he was free to speak out before that six-week 'consultation'.

His situation sets a precedence from which other subpostmasters can draw courage. Refuse to sign the confidentiality agreement and call the Post Office's bluff. They have no legal right to force you to sign anything against your will or take away your pay off.

You don't have to be James Cagney to fight back - just brave enough to say 'no'.

Toby Walne, Financial Mail on Sunday

toby@walne.co.uk

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