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Joan Hopton has been penniless for a year - because the Post Office won't pay her pension.Staff told the 81-year-old they couldn't recognise her signature, even though she's deaf and blind.

For 12 months she has had to get by on her personal savings because the Post Office kept hold of more than £4,000 owed to her.

Mrs Hopton, from Fiddler's Green, Cheltenham, lost her pension card last May.

She was told to write a letter to the Post Office to get a replacement card. But the signature on the letter didn't match the one on the old card.

Mrs Hopton's daughter Jennifer Lewis said: "It is disgusting. My mother is blind and deaf so it might not be exactly the same but you could still tell it was her signature.

"We couldn't believe it when they told us."

Jennifer, 45, said she was advised to get her mother to call the company and talk to them, but Mrs Hopton can't use the phone.

She has been forced to live off her savings for the last year.

The family now have to write a further letter to Post Office Ltd, closing the pension account and attaching a note from Mrs Hopton's doctor saying she is no longer capable of managing her money.

Jennifer added: "It is not as if we are trying to steal money and put it in my mum's bank account. It is her money.

"We don't know what else to do, everything we have done so far has made no difference whatsoever.

"We have been lucky mum had some savings. If she didn't have any or a close family to help she would be really stuck."

Mrs Hopton has been blind since her late thirties and her two daughters, Jennifer and Jean, are her full-time carers.

They contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau who made an attempt at talking to the post office on the family's behalf but this proved unsuccessful.

The Department of Pensions has transferred the owed money to Mrs Hopton's bank account, although without the approval of the post office, she cannot access it.

A Post Office spokesman said: "We are very sorry to learn of the problems Mrs Hopton has had with her account.

"A member of our high profile case team will contact her shortly to try to find a speedy solution."

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VamPyroX

That sucks. I hate when they don't really pay attention to what the real problem is.

It's like those credit card companies who annoy the hell out of us because a person who died still owes money. "Umm... he's dead." "Sorry, but he still owes $100."

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