'Forged £20 note given by PO staff' (From Keighley News)

'Forged £20 note given by PO staff'

9:00am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Keighley By Miran Rahman

David Knott pictured with the receipt he was given by postal staff

A Haworth man claims Keighley central post office passed him a forged £20 note then refused to acknowledge responsibility for the error.

David Knott, 32, of Heathcote Rise, said when he drew attention to the forgery, staff at the Towngate post office would only give him a receipt, instead of a genuine £20 note.

A Post Office spokesman responded: “We take such matters very seriously and have strict procedures in place to prevent the distribution of counterfeit notes, which are adhered to by every branch.

“We will of course reimburse the customer with £20 while we continue to investigate the matter thoroughly.”

Mr Knott said he went to the post office to collect his Employment and Support Allowance.

He picked up the cash payment without noticing anything wrong until that evening, when he tried to spend some of the money at a Keighley town centre bar.

He said the bar would not accept the £20 note and warned him that it was actually a forgery.

He said: “When I looked at it closely I could see that it had been taped up and the silver strip was missing.”

He said he took the same note back to the post office the next day and spoke to the woman who had given him his benefit payment the day before.

However, he said neither she nor anyone else at the branch would accept that they had passed him the forgery. He said despite this the staff still took the forged note off him and would not give it back.

He showed the Keighley News the receipt given to him by the post office. Under the title “Receipt for Miscellaneous Payment” are the handwritten words “forged note”. Beneath this, Mr Knott’s name has been incorrectly filled in as “D. Knox”.