A postmaster who had almost £2,000 stolen from his sub-post office during a nighttime burglary has been told to foot the bill because he was not security conscious enough.
The Post Office sent a letter to Deepak Mistry demanding repayment and said he was "culpable and responsible" for the loss and had breached strict security procedures.
Mr Mistry, whose store is on Stone Road, Stafford, left £1,900 in a cash machine which had jammed so he could not get the money out.
He said: "This is not my fault. I agree I used to leave the money in there when a cash machine next door was not working but this time it was not intentional. At the time it happened I could not open the machine."
The money was stolen in February and Mr Mistry was alerted by the police when an alarm in his shop went off.
The Post Office ordered Mr Mistry to repay the money by the end of last month but he said he intended to fight the demand "until all avenues have been exhausted".
The letter from the Post Office said: "I have concluded that insufficient precautions were taken to safeguard the cash and you did not comply with Post Office Ltd security standards and instructions detailed in the terms and conditions governing the filling of cash machines.
"I have concluded you are culpable and responsible for the loss of £1,910 of Post Office Ltd funds."
