This week 30 years ago: Fruit machines swallow postal workers’ wages in Upper Street office

Fruit machines were swallowing the wages of young postal workers at Islington’s Northern District Office in Upper Street.

Post Office chiefs, worried about the extent of gambling fever, launched an investigation into use of one-armed bandits.

The intervention followed the case of a postal worker taken to court for stealing more than £5,000 from the staff restaurant – to fund her gambling habit.

Since her brush with the law, fears grew that more staff were hooked on the machines.

Two fruit machines with a jackpot of £100 were placed outside the staff canteen at the office. Between them, they earned about £1,500 a week.