Over a two-year period he and his staff made 507 calls to the Post Office helpline, 85 of which related to Horizon. His contract was terminated with no reason given in November 2003.
Although he was not prosecuted, he lost £65,000 which he had invested in the business.
Who is Alan Bates?
Alan Bates was subpostmaster betweent 31st of March 1998 and the 5th of November 2003 so a period of five and a half years.
He was appointed subpostmaster at Craig-y-Don, Llandudno (North Wales). 68-year-old Alan Bates took over a shop with a post office counter in 1998.
It’s clear that Alan Bates faced significant difficulties with the Post Office, particularly related to the Horizon system, without any clear explanation or support from the Post Office.
This situation underscores the challenges and injustices experienced by many subpostmasters during that time.
Bates became a prominent figure in the fight for justice for affected subpostmasters. He was involved in legal battles against the Post Office, seeking compensation and acknowledgment of the systemic failures that led to their wrongful prosecutions. In 2019, Bates and other subpostmasters won a significant legal victory when the Court of Appeal overturned their convictions, acknowledging serious flaws in the Horizon system.
The Post Office scandal is considered one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in recent UK history, and Alan Bates played a crucial role in bringing attention to the issue and fighting for redress for those affected.
Alan Bates was not accused of theft but rather faced termination due to issues related to the management of his post office. He, along with many other subpostmasters, encountered significant challenges related to the Post Office’s Horizon IT system.
Due to what happened in november 2003 with Alan Bates, one can wonder if then already the Post Office should have stopped at the latest the procecution of the subpostmasters and there accusation of theft.
The case of Alan Bates and other subpostmasters highlighted systemic failures within the Post Office’s management and oversight of the Horizon system. The wrongful accusations and disciplinary actions taken against them were ultimately deemed unjust, leading to legal battles and campaigns for justice.
Bates and others fought to clear their names and seek compensation for the losses they suffered as a result of the Post Office’s actions. Their efforts contributed to increased scrutiny of the Horizon system and ultimately led to the overturning of criminal convictions and acknowledgment of the flaws in the system by the Court of Appeal.
Please enjoy Alan Bates’ responses to questions posed by Jason Beer.
Jason Beer KC is the Head of Chambers of 5 Essex Court and sits as a Deputy High Court Judge (King’s Bench and Chancery Divisions) and as a Recorder of the Crown Court. He has a multi-disciplinary background specialising in public inquiries, inquests, public law and police law. Jason has considerable experience of leading teams of counsel in complex and sensitive investigations and inquiries. Before taking Silk, he was Junior Counsel to the Crown.
1 Post Office Scandal: Alan Bates why the ‘harm and injustice’ drove him during 20 year campaign
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9 apr 2024
Lead campaigner and former subpostmaster Alan Bates has told the Post Office IT Inquiry his search for justice and redress was “something you couldn’t put down”.
Mr Bates was giveing evidence where he said in a previous statement statement to the inquiry that the Post Office had spent the entirety of the 23 years he has been campaigning “denying, lying, defending, and attempting to discredit and silence.
2 Best bits: Alan Bates lifts the lid on Post Office cover-up of Horizon scandal in Inquiry
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The Post Office Inquiry was back underway with founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance founder Alan Bates, who exposed every shortcoming of the Post Office during the Horizon software scandal.
3 Horizon IT inquiry: Alan Bates says ‘atrocious’ Post Office is ‘beyond saving’ | ITV News
9 apr 2024
Prominent campaigner and former sub-postmaster Alan Bates has called the Post Office an “atrocious organisation” that’s “beyond saving” and will be the “bugbear” of government for years to come, in his evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry.
Speaking from the witness box, Mr Bates accused the organisation of attempting to “discredit and silence” him for more than two decades and “definitely trying to outspend us” as part of its “aggressive” tactics at the High Court.
ITV News’ UK Editor Paul Brand reports.
Read the full report on the ITV News website here: https://www.itv.com/news/2024-04-09/a…
4 Post Office Inquiry: Alan Bates delivers brutal assessment of bosses
9 apr 2024
Today was the moment for the real Alan Bates to stand up, as he was sworn in at the Horizon inquiry, delivering a brutal assessment of the Post Office bosses who hounded him and his colleagues, then tried to cover it up.
But perhaps the most damning thing to come out of today – the accusation from the inquiry’s chair that even now the Post Office seems to be attempting to obstruct the entire process.
Post Office is ‘atrocious dead duck’, inquiry hears”
characterization made by Alan Bates
The phrase “atrocious dead duck” used in this context likely implies that the Post Office, as described in the inquiry, is both dreadful and unsuccessful.
“Atrocious” suggests something extremely bad or unpleasant, while “dead duck” is a colloquial term often used to describe something that is doomed to failure or already unsuccessful.
In this case, it indicates that the Post Office is not only performing poorly but also has little hope of improvement.
Alan Bates says Post Office was run by ‘thugs in suits’
9 April 2024 By Tom Espiner, Business reporter, BBC News
Former subpostmaster Alan Bates speaks to the media outside Aldwych House after giving evidence to the Post Office Public Inquiry in London, United Kingdom on 9 April 2024Getty Images
Former sub-postmaster and campaigner Alan Bates has said the Post Office was being run by “little more than thugs in suits” in 2010.
In a strongly worded witness statement to the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, he accused the Post Office of lying about the accounting system.
He also said the organisation had spent 23 years trying to “discredit and silence” him.
The Post Office apologised for hurt caused by the scandal.
It also said it regretted not disclosing documents to the inquiry “as early as all parties would have liked”.
Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office due to the faulty Horizon software, which showed errors that did not exist.
Some lost their jobs, businesses and homes. Many were left financially ruined. Others were convicted and sent to prison and some died while waiting for justice.
‘The Post Office has ruined every happy moment of my life since 2005’
Mr Bates has been campaigning on behalf of sub-postmasters for decades and was recently catapulted into the national spotlight by an ITV drama about the scandal, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
On Tuesday, the public inquiry resumed and Mr Bates was the first person to provide evidence ahead of more key witnesses appearing over the next 15 weeks.
In response to a letter from former postal affairs minister Sir Ed Davey in 2010, Mr Bates wrote back: “It’s not that you can’t get involved or cannot investigate the matter, after all you do own 100% of the shares and normally shareholders are concerned about the morality of the business they own.
“It is because you have adopted an arm’s length relationship that you have allowed a once great institution to be asset stripped by little more than thugs in suits, and you have enabled them to carry on with impunity regardless of the human misery and suffering they inflict.”
Responding to Mr Bates’s statement, the Liberal Democrats said: “As Alan Bates told the inquiry, the bulk of the blame lies with officials.
“Ed was the first minister to meet with Mr Bates and hear his concerns.
“He put those concerns to the Post Office, but their officials lied to him as they did to so many people.”
Mr Bates told reporters after the hearing had ended on Tuesday that it had been an “an interesting day”, adding he wanted the original group of sub-postmasters to “get their money”.
He joked that once the whole process was over, he planned to “buy a little post office and put his feet up”.
‘Campaign to expose truth’
In Mr Bates’s witness statement, the former sub-postmaster said he had “spent the last 23 years campaigning to expose the truth, and justice”.
He also told the inquiry that before he was sacked he had repeatedly raised concerns about Horizon, including in a letter he had sent in December 2000, two months after the system had been installed in his post office branch in Craig-y-Don in Llandudno.
When Horizon was first installed he had been “quite positive” about it, having had experience with retailing and accounting software since 1986.
However, he soon found “frustrating” problems with it, including a lack of transparency over transaction data.
He refused to accept that shortfalls in his accounts were his responsibility to make good, maintaining that it was the software that was faulty.
Why hundreds of Post Office workers were wrongly prosecuted
Jail people for Post Office scandal, says minister
The ordinary lives devastated by a faulty IT system
When his employment was terminated in November 2003, he was “annoyed” with that “to put it mildly”.
But he added that his sacking was “partly expected, in a way, because it was pretty obvious [the Post Office] were after me one way or another” after he repeatedly raised concerns about Horizon.
Post Office chief executive Nick Read speaking to the BBC at the inquiry
Post Office chief executive Nick Read made a surprise appearance at the inquiry hearing
The inquiry was shown slides from an undated presentation prepared by Dave Smith, a former Post Office manager, which said Mr Bates “had discrepancies” but was “dismissed because he became unmanageable”.
“Clearly struggled with accounting, and despite copious support, did not follow instructions,” the presentation said.
When asked by lead counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC if it was ever explained to him that he became “unmanageable”, he smiled and said: “No, not at all.”
He also denied having ever struggled with accounting, or being given “copious” support.
Over more than two years he and his staff made 507 calls to the Post Office helpline, 85 of which related to Horizon.
He said the helpline was not much help. “Stating the bleeding obvious is one description I might use. It was all things that I’d tried.”
In a surprise appearance on Wednesday, Post Office chief executive Nick Read was present in the inquiry room.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Read admitted financial redress for sub-postmasters had been “slow”.
While he did not want to go into the specifics of Mr Bates’s case and why his claim had not yet been settled, he said he wanted to “demonstrate [his] support” for sub-postmasters and for Mr Bates.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “Post Office is deeply sorry for the hurt and suffering that has been caused to victims and their loved ones, and we are committed to ensuring that they receive the justice and redress that they so deserve.”
Following criticism of its document disclosure by Mr Beer, the Post Office said it had disclosed the “vast majority” of documents needed for the next round of hearings in a timely way.
But it said it regretted that “a very small proportion of documents were not disclosed as early as all parties would have liked”.
5 Alan Bates tells inquiry the Post Office lied for ’23 years to discredit and silence me’
9 apr 2024
Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates has told the Horizon IT inquiry that the Post Office was determined to protect its brand at all costs.
He said the Post Office spent 23 years trying to “discredit and silence” him after he raised concerns with the accounting software, just months after it was introduced.
Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/post-offic…
6 Alan Bates: Post Office boss ‘should’ve brought his chequebook’
9 apr 2024
Alan Bates joked that Post Office CEO Nick Read “should’ve brought his chequebook” to the Horizon Public Inquiry.
Mr Bates had finished giving evidence to the Inquiry, where earlier his termination letter was revealed – and the decision to sack him described as “the only sensible option” by the then general manager of the Post Office’s communications network, Richard Barker.
Read more here: https://news.sky.com/story/post-offic…
7 Alan Bates sacked as subpostmaster for being ‘unmanageable’
9 apr 2024
Post Office inquiry: Alan Bates gives evidence on scandal
Lead campaigner and former subpostmaster Alan Bates was sacked by the Post Office because it considered him “unmanageable”, the Horizon IT Inquiry has heard.
The Mirror Homepage: https://www.mirror.co.uk
8 Post Office ‘were after me, one way or another’ – Alan Bates
9 apr 2024
Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates has told the Post Office inquiry how he believes his former employer was after him “one way or another”.
Mr Bates claimed the Post Office wanted to “make a lesson” of his case.
He was appointed sub-postmaster at Craig-y-Don, Llandudno in March 1998, but was forced to resign in November 2003, after Post Office management accused him of being responsible for financial losses at his local branch.
Read more here:
https://news.sky.com/story/post-offic…
9 The contempt for power that was oozing out of the post office inquiry this morning
9 apr 2024
And that same contempt colours and drives the calls for Wragg’s resignation, for Rayner’s answers… there is anger in the air and a change in government is not enough- much of the post office scandal played out under the watch of Keir Starmer, the liberal Ed Davey is implicated as well as the stink of Conservative indifference to the many victims of the abuse of power that the post office scandal involves.
Join me, Professor Tim Wilson, as I dissect today’s headlines, offering my insights and perspectives on the latest in British politics and global affairs. With a keen eye and a bit of wit, we delve into the news that shapes our world.
10 Alan Bates To Speak Out At The Post Office Inquiry | This Morning
9 apr 2024
What’s got Britain talking? We’ll be discussing today’s top stories with Nick and Sonia.
Broadcast on 09/04/2024
11 Alan Bates says he was fired because the Post Office ‘didn’t like me standing up to them’
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT Listening recommended Must ***
9 apr 2024
Alan Bates says the Post Office terminated his contract as a sub-postmaster because “they didn’t like me standing up to them”.
The inquiry hears he received a letter terminating his employment in 2003 in which no reason for his dismissal was given.
Mr Bates founded the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, and led a group of 555 sub-postmasters who took the Post Office to the High Court over the scandal.
His story became the subject of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, starring Toby Jones.
12 Horizon scandal: Alan Bates takes stand in Post Office inquiry – watch live
Heeft 19 uur geleden live gestreamd
Alan Bates – the real life hero of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, in which he is played by Toby Jones – will take the stand at Aldwych House, in central London
13 “These People Need To Be PROPERLY Held To Account” | Former Post Office Minister On Scandal
10 apr 2024
Paula Vennells has been accused of misleading the government after new evidence saw her claim there was no evidence sub-postmasters had been wrongfully convicted.
Ms Vennells, who ran the organisation between 2012 and 2019, told the-then Post Office Minister Jo Swinson the “Post Office has found no reason to conclude that any prosecution was unsafe”.
This was despite the Post Office being told, in 2014, by the law firm it had itself hired to review prosecutions that it found problems in at least 26 cases
Former Post Office Minister Paul Scully MP says there is still ‘a long way to go’ to fix the ‘biggest miscarriage of justice in British court history’ in the Horizon scandal.
“We need to hold some of these people properly to account.”
14 Alan Bates says ‘harm and injustice’ inspired his Post Office Horizon scandal campaigning
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9 apr 2024 UNITED KINGDOM
Once he saw the ‘harm and injustice’ to people working in the Post Office, Alan Bates had to dedicate part of his life to campaigning about the Horizon IT scandal, he told an inquiry.
Bates, a former post office operator, was played by the actor Toby Jones in the ITV hit drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which portrayed the victims’ fight for justice.
15 LIVE: Lord Arbuthnot to give evidence to Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
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nu aan het kijken
28 minuten geleden begonnen met streamen
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom will give evidence today at the Post Office inquiry along with a former Court of Appeal Judge.
The Tory peer, who backed Alan Bates and other sub-postmasters in their fight for justice, was portrayed in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted after faulty Horizon software produced fictional shortfalls on their accounts.
Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024…
#postoffice #scandal #inquiry
16 ‘Compensated for bad behaviour!’ – Ex-postmaster FUMES at Post Office executives being given bonuses
17 Post Office Inquiry: Alan Bates blasts bosses | Jeremy Vine
18 Alan Bates gives his evidence
10 apr 2024
Mr Bates electrifies the Post Office Inquiry
Campaigning hero Alan Bates told the Horizon IT inquiry the Post Office has spent the last 23 years trying to ‘discredit and silence me’
Continue reading at The Mirror:
Alan Bates brands Post Office bosses ‘thugs in suits’ and says ‘atrocious’ firm is ‘beyond saving’
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic…
19 The Real Mr Bates Vs the Post Office: Jo Hamilton on the Post Office Scandal Inquiry | Lorraine
10 apr 2024
The post office scandal inquiry resumed yesterday with Alan Bates giving evidence. Millions of us watched his campaign for justice in the ITV drama ‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office,’ and now sub-postmasters who were falsely accused of stealing money are being heard.
The writer of that incredible show, Gwyneth Hughes, and former postmistress Jo Hamilton were at the inquiry yesterday and join us to explain more about how the scandal impacted them and what results they want to see from the inquiry.
20 Ex-Post Office boss cornered over possible cover-up of Horizon scandal in Inquiry hearing
David Smith faced the music at the Post Office Inquiry today, when he was quizzed on his knowledge of Horizon software defects after the publication of the Ismay report in 2010.
21 Post Office executive warned of wrongful conviction six years before innocent man cleared | ITV News
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11 apr 2024
A senior Post Office executive was told by an independent investigator that an innocent sub-postmaster had been wrongly imprisoned without “any evidence”, six years before his conviction was finally quashed.
A secret recording obtained by ITV News has revealed Angela Van Den Bogerd, former Head of Partnerships at the Post Office, was told in January 2015 that the organisation had “materially misled” the courts in prosecuting Carl Page – a sub-postmaster from Staffordshire.
She was a key figure in the Post Office scandal and gave evidence to Parliament in February 2015 alongside then-Chief Executive Paula Vennells.
22 Julie Hesmondhalgh Discusses Her Emotional Role in ‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office’
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10 apr 2024
Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh has been a fan favourite on the soap for years, helping to tell fantastic stories. In January 2024 she portrayed Suzanne, the partner of Alan Bates in the ITV drama ‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.’ Julie reveals how she learned more about the Post Office Scandal after receiving the role, and just how emotional the process was.
Broadcast on 10/04/24
Important
23 Alan Bates writes to Post Office offering Horizon Help
Back to menu IMPORTANT CONTENT Listening recommended Must ***
13 apr 2024
Support DPS Computing and independent journalism!
Alan Bates writes a letter to Post Office offering Horizon Help after he notices a £6000 shortfall months after the Fujitsu Horizon system is installed into his office.
In the letter he explains a detailed investigation that he has mounted which has identified some of the issues in Horizon but due to the lack of Horizon reporting functionality he is unable to get to the bottom of the entire amount and asks Post Office for assistance as well as offering his experience in previous EPOS systems to help the Post Office with their new system.
24 Post Office Scandal: Wronged sub-postmaster Alan Bates ‘can’t see any end to it’
13 apr 2024
Support DPS Computing and independent journalism!
Alan Bates writes a letter to Post Office offering Horizon Help after he notices a £6000 shortfall months after the Fujitsu Horizon system is installed into his office.
In the letter he explains a detailed investigation that he has mounted which has identified some of the issues in Horizon but due to the lack of Horizon reporting functionality he is unable to get to the bottom of the entire amount and asks Post Office for assistance as well as offering his experience in previous EPOS systems to help the Post Office with their new system.
A important letter by Alan Bates at the beginning of the life of Horizon
25 Writer of ‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’ ‘blown away’ by response
26 Post Office Scandal: Alan Bates Calls Compensation Offer ‘Cruel and Derisory’ | Good Morning Britain
1 feb 2024
Alan Bates, the former Sub-postmaster who is at the heart of the fight for justice in the post office Horizon scandal, has said today he will reject the compensation offered to him by the government.
He got the offer yesterday afternoon and Mr. Bates says it was one-sixth of the amount he requested. He says it is cruel and derisory.
Broadcast on 01/02/24
27 Government collusion with Post Office over Horizon scandal exposed in Inquiry response
Founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance Alan Bates was in front of the Post Office Inquiry today, where his correspondence with then-minister Jo Swinson was brought to light.
28 Post Office ‘were after me, one way or another’ – Alan Bates
9 apr 2024
Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates has told the Post Office inquiry how he believes his former employer was after him “one way or another”.
Mr Bates claimed the Post Office wanted to “make a lesson” of his case.
He was appointed sub-postmaster at Craig-y-Don, Llandudno in March 1998, but was forced to resign in November 2003, after Post Office management accused him of being responsible for financial losses at his local branch.
29 We Reveal The Secret To Making Great Orange Juice
18 mrt 2020
Like all great things in life, the secret is hard work and a little sweat… Okay, a lot of sweat.