23/8/2005
Local News in Reading
Pensions shake-up confuses old folkA postmistress has confessed to constantly breaking Post Office rules because the new chip and PIN system for paying pensions is causing so much distress for old people. She told the Evening Post elderly people regularly forget their PIN numbers or enter them wrongly - and some end up with no money. She revealed she and her staff keep a note of the PIN numbers for a number of regular customers who have trouble remembering them, which is strictly forbidden.
Because of this breach of the regulations, the postmistress was unable to give her name. She said her staff at her Reading post office never had problems when pensioners had a pension book to claim their weekly cash. That all changed when PIN security was introduced. She said: "We had a recent case where a man got his number wrong three times and his PIN number was cancelled. He was unable to get a new number, or any money, for three weeks." An elderly woman with dementia was also unable to collect her pension because she could not remember her number. First printed in: Reading Evening Post
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