On Tuesday there was constant rain or as we coarse northerners usually observe, "It was pissing it down!" Consequently, I was not drawn outside and in fact stayed in all day with nothing much to occupy my time.
This is not something I would normally do but I had the idea of spending the afternoon watching a current ITV drama series called "Mr Bates Versus The Post Office". It is very much based upon a rather shocking true story and incidentally, a story that is by no means fully resolved.
In the late nineties, the British Post Office invested in an expensive new computer accounting system called "Horizon". It cost over £1.5 billion and was meant to streamline post office services. In league with the Fujitsu computer company, it was claimed by The Post Office leadership that the "Horizon" system was entirely reliable, foolproof in fact. To them it seemed entirely proper that if there were any accounting shortfalls they should be personally made up by postmasters and postmistresses in charge of thousands of post office branches. After all, it could never be the computer's fault or so they said.
Some village or suburban postmasters and mistresses found themselves liable to repay thousands of pounds that they swore blind they had not stolen. Many of these people lost their livelihoods and homes and some were sent to prison when all along it was the fault of the "Horizon" system. It wasn't foolproof after all.
Proving that fact became exceedingly difficult. The Post Office had the wherewithal to pay enormous legal costs but the accused employees had next to nothing. However, they did have the redoubtable Alan Bates, a North Wales postmaster who himself had been caught up in the scandal. With dogged determination, he led the fightback and brought the victims of the terrible injustice together.
In the end, the victims won their case in the highest courts in this kingdom but even now they haven't received the full compensation packages they so richly deserve. Meantime back in 2019, the retiring head of The Post Office, Paula Vennells, was awarded a C.B.E (Commander of the British Empire) honour for her "service to The Post Office" by Johnson's Conservative government.
As I write, a petition to get that honour quashed has attracted over 100,000 signatures - on the back of the success of this week's TV drama.
Paula Vennells belongs in prison along with other people who occupied high positions within The Post Office. Some of them knew all along that "Horizon" was flawed and yet they did nothing to stop the destruction of good people's lives and reputations. At least four of the accused postmasters and postmistresses committed suicide and a few others died prematurely of "natural" causes. There were divorces . Friends were lost and family homes were sold.
The whole thing has been an absolute disgrace that brings shame upon my country. A country which prides itself on fairness and a judicial system that roots out injustice. However, it is also a country in which the makers of film and TV drama have licence to tell the truth even when that creates huge discomfort in high places. You would not be able to watch such a lid-lifting drama in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia or various other countries that claim to be "free".
I've never heard of Horizon or how it messed up your mail system. But I am in awe of the power a movie/documentary can have these days to shake up industries. I've always been a firm believer that karma will come around eventually to bite the ass of the one who needed it, much of the time not soon enough to suit the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't really mess up the mail system - just the lives of hundreds of decent people who were using Horizon at the front line.
DeleteThat's disgusting and no accountability always makes me so angry!
ReplyDeleteLots of shredding of evidence has definitely happened in Post Office HQ and some of the culpable bosses have received handsome pay-offs. It is as if none of them are willing to accept blame for the terror they wrought in the name of The Post Office.
DeleteChildren of these families were affected too by family breakdown. Financial compensation does not mend that.
ReplyDeleteOne daughter of an accused postmaster suffered and probably still suffers from anorexia but you cannot turn back the clock.
DeleteIt reminds me of our robo-debt where the government of the time used a dodgy (but infallible!) computer program to accuse social security recipients of rorting the system and demanding repayment. Many suicided.
ReplyDeleteThat's an awful story. Injustice doesn't even begin to describe it.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely atrocious and makes me feel physically ill.
ReplyDeleteI hope the people do eventually get the compensation they deserve and sooner rather than later. but it's the same old story isn't it? Those at the top of the sh*t heap get away with wrongdoings while the little man at the bottom pays the consequences.
ReplyDeleteA quick Google will bring up Australia's Robodebt scandal. People should also be in gaol, including a former Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteA faultless, entirely foolproof computer program simply does not exist, and the people behind "Horizon" should have been honest about that, as all those decision makers at The Post Office should have been.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned Toby Jones when you wrote about The Detectorists. My comment about him remains the same: I like him.
It is that sharp divide that has happened in this country isn't it? The top level bands of industry covering up a mistake by blaming those less well off. It is despicable and ugly, for instance, why don't we put high earners who are corrupt in jail where they belong. I won't go on, the ball has started rolling against greed and misfeasance.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby worked for our local Co-op, not the national group, when the issues started the company supported their staff, calling for the system to be overhauled, none of their staff ever received and warnings, it was ongoing for years.
ReplyDeleteDisturbing and true. I have been told, "oh that is not possible with this accounting system" when I knew it was true.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of this mess over here. Sounds like a horrible injustice.
ReplyDeleteToby Jones was in that terrific series, The Detecterists. Did you ever see that? I thought it was just great.
ReplyDeleteThis is the 3rd blog talking about your PO today and I didn't know anything about it.
I hadn't heard of this before, but it's an utter disgrace.
ReplyDeleteI had not realized that the IT partner in Horizon was Fujitsu. I had some dealings with them several years later in relation to the total fiasco that was the NHS Programme for IT, which was supposed to have been Blair's answer to all of the NHS problems. Fujitsu were incompetent and borderline corrupt over their involvement, so I suspect that they may well have had as much a part in the disaster as the Post Office management.
ReplyDelete