Forum Topic

The Post Office scandal

Fantastic coverage of the Post Office scandal…finally! However, the conduct of the Post Office is still, sadly, pernicious. Last year I wrote numerous times to Kevin Hollinrake MP, the Post Office Minister, to effectively ask him to do his job. Unfortunately, I received only one tepid reply. So, it’s a bit nauseating to see MPs falling over themselves now on the back of an ITV drama to be seen as saviours when they knew about the scandal years ago and could have helped then.Thanks to various documents, brilliant reporting from investigative journalists and documentaries, I’ve gotten into the weeds of this scandal over the last few years. If the ITV drama has sparked your curiosity, I’ve started another two threads about the compensation and Inquiry which hopefully provides more detail.Why the interest? My mother runs Strand on the Green post office. She could have easily been falsely accused of theft and sent to jail if she experienced bad luck with Horizon.In 2024 I hope we’ll finally know exactly who said what, when and why.

Milan Joshi ● 408d27 Comments

A bit insensitive Phillipa

Maggie Dodge ● 392d

"Computer says No" was frustrating and funny in a comedy but we've all had problems like that but unfortunately this is far from a comedy with the trauma and devastation to families this has caused.

Philippa Bond ● 392d

So there was a computer system they were using before Horizon called Capture which had problems.  Those who used that system have been asked to come forward.This all takes me back to Little Britain and "Computer Says No".

Philippa Bond ● 392d

And the way that the Judge ordered the IT expert to be allowed to inspect a computer - and they wouldn't allow him to touch it so that he couldn't see how it was working?Or the subpostmistress who they settled out of court with and made sign an NDA?

Philippa Bond ● 393d

Kemi Badenoch was dead within her rights to sack the current chairman of the P.O. Henry Staunton, who, having being in post for over a year, had merely conceded a public inquiry to the wrong doings of the Horizon scandal.Public inquiries take an abysmal time to reach fruition, remember the length of the Chilton inquiry? The ongoing covid inquiry isn't due for completion until 2026.The sub postmasters, who have suffered for so long, all because not one person had the balls to stick their head above the parapet and cry foul.Keri must ensure the P.O. is deprived of the right to prosecute, and more, ensure the innocents receive full compensations pronto.

Denis I. Fox ● 393d

The horizon scandal is unbelievable everyone in business knows systems have bugs, why did know one at the post office say “stop lets understand what is going on’. It’s easy for techies to go check the code. It’s Fujitsu NOT Fuji. All post masters involved should have their money refunded yesterday totally agree and be fully compensated. That won’t pay for their heartache, stress, prison time and yes heads should roll at the Post Office, prison time appropriate for the CEO it send a message to corporates. It is an utter disgrace and thank you ITV for commission the programme. My heart goes out to all those affected.

Jayne Thorburn ● 393d

Steve is 100% spot on: if the Post Office knows of even just one case where they have incorrectly received money from a subpostmaster then they should get out their chequebook in the next 5 minutes and make immediate refund. Not a full and final payment but the first of 3 payment. Second one to refund what it has cost the subpostmaster to be without the money i.e. not merely interest added but for loss of his businesses, loss of trade, cost of having to borrow etc etc. 3rd to be compensation for the tragic circumstances they have put people through. PO and Fuji to be ordered to take it in turn to make these payments and fight it out amongst themselves how to split it between them. If you are truly sorry for wrongdoing you have caused you would WILLINGLY put it right with all haste.

James Petri ● 393d

Exactly the problem.  How long have they known what has finally been made public, and yet everything still seems to be the same.  I hear Horizon is still being used, not sure this can possibly be true.  Hence my comment, that there are things we have no control over, regardless of how awful we all know they are. So best to let it go.

Maggie Dodge ● 393d

For me it is clear from the PO Inquiry that the Post Office in its current guise cannot be allowed to continue.  The PO knew that the Horizon system was flawed but continued to prosecute people, hide evidence, lie in court and have been less than frank to the Inquiry. Then there is the issue of what did the politicians nominally responsible for the PO know and when.  I suspect we will find that the Civil Service acted as though they were in an episode of Yes Minister,  hiding information from politicians or burying in as much other information as possible to ensure that politicians never understood its importance.  They will of course say "lessons have been learned", they will attempt to attribute blame on specific (usefully retired) individual civil servants and then they will carry on as before.

Justin Stephenson ● 393d

There’s so much to hate right now, you have to pick your battles and give up on the ones that we’ve got no control over. That’s just about everything 😂

Maggie Dodge ● 393d

The Chairman didn’t want to co-operate with the government so obviously had to be sacked. What found absolutely appalling from the parliamentary select committee’s interrogation of the the CEO’s of the Post Office and Fujitsu last week, was the fact that both these gents admitted to wrongdoing by their predecessors but, when questioned on how they were going to put it right immediately, they both hid behind the fact that there is an enquiry going on. To my mind, as they have admitted to wrongdoing, it is totally unacceptable and unnecessary to stall any further. The enquiry may well uncover many more wrongdoing and even criminal acts but there is absolutely no reason to wait for the full results to be published before acting. It’s totally immoral!  I’m astounded that no MP on the select committee pushed them on this point. All talk but no real action.

Steve Taylor ● 393d

So the Business Minister has sacked the Chairman of the Post Office.  That seems harsh as he hadn't been there that long.  There are others who have been there longer.This is interesting:https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366567874/Expert-IT-witness-outsmarted-an-aggressive-Post-Office-to-get-to-truth-after-inspection-madness

Philippa Bond ● 393d

Yes,hiding behind 'a cloak of decency' whilst endorsing even if by inaction, all kinds of illegal or unethical shennanigans is disgraceful and very probably against corporate law.

Keith Iddon ● 406d

'Yes,but not in the case of Vennels which is what we are discussing.'I have to agree with you on that - people saying 'whatabout' and dragging other issues in is irrelevant in this case, it's a distraction attempt, this discussion is about one person and their actions and behaviour, what others may or may not have done does not apply on this.

Vanessa Smith ● 406d

You made, what I believe was a general opinion on people hiding behind faith. Whilst I’m aware Vennels is not catholic it seemed appropriate to bring in other faiths doing the same. Your post is below. Don’t argue for the sake of it please. This situation is far too awful for pettiness“Very few things make me as angry as the entitled, the incompetent or the downright culpable hiding behind a veneer of faith.” Nomention of Vennels specifically or  any faith specifically

Maggie Dodge ● 406d

Yes,but not in the case of Vennels which is what we are discussing.

N V Brooks ● 407d

Yes but faith applies to both C of E and Catholic .

Maggie Dodge ● 407d

Save that Vennels was Church of England and championed by 'Wet Welby'.

N V Brooks ● 407d

Just watched a lovely lady Sima did 4 months prison while pregnant.What can be said apart from all the animal farm people get away with it

Pete Smith ● 407d

Disgraced catholic priests and nuns by the bucket load !

Maggie Dodge ● 407d

Very few things make me as angry as the entitled, the incompetent or the downright culpable hiding behind a veneer of faith.

N V Brooks ● 407d

" when we mess up my faith tells me I can be forgiven that shortfalls are a perfectly human thing to do and I can always start again always always always I find that very liberating you can get it wrong and move on"  Thanks fof that wisdom Vennells,just another entitler narc.

Pete Smith ● 407d

There is, sadly, a long a tiresome history of those with little parochial experience being elevated, solely based on their 'profile', into positions of influence within the Church of England. Successive, weak, Archbishops have allowed this to mature undermining the parish approach that has served community so well for hundreds of years.The issue of too many churches (a glut of vanity building in the Victorian era) is well-known but ripping up the parish structure is not the way to resolve this. The likes of Vennels have a 'ready and willing to receive' audience solely due to the sheer amount of navel gazing that goes on withing Synod.

N V Brooks ● 407d

As if this scandal hadn't shocked enough I read this in yesterday's 'Sunday Times' re Paula Vennells. This is from Richard Coles' column. It seems that Ms. Vennells an Aglian priest had 'unusual influence in the Church of England despite never having run a parish. She sat on national bodies and devised a plan for reorganisation that looked as though it would do to the parishes what Beeching did to branch lines. She was even shortlisted to become Bishop of London. How could someone with so little experience be given such responsibility? Was HQ dazzled by her reputation for turning round a failing national institution - for reasons that are obvious? Perhaps the most valuable outcome of this scandal will be a better understanding of the failures of managerialism and the return of some humanity to the way we run organisations when the going is tough.'

Vanessa Smith ● 407d

Watched another programme, featuring the real sub postmasters. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more suicides. I don’t know how sone people will live with this on their conscience. Hopefully they’ve felt guilty for years, but now they’ve got to face up to what they did.

Maggie Dodge ● 408d

I despise the.Why did it take a tv drama to kick them into gear,despicable.Regards to your mother

Pete Smith ● 408d

Thank you so much for the view from the inside. May I wish your mother continued stable health.

N V Brooks ● 408d