Public inquiry into Post Office scandal starts – Blog

Waseem Ahmed
Heartbreaking for the victims, hopefully they will all get compensated. However the people responsible for such misconduct & negligence need to be held accountable for everyone’s sake. Can we really tolerate this and let them get way with it? Such a massive injustice has been done here and needs to be rectified!
Y MK
this is disgusting to hear how these people suffered while the culprit has never been held accountable in anyway!
Keith Appanah
The people behind the IT system should be charged for negligence and potential fraud (if they knowingly covered it up). This is absolutely appalling.
Michelle Norris
News reports say this could end up costing the taxpayers £350 million, let’s make sure some of those very wealthy people who profited from this scandal, pay towards this compensation too!!
Thunderbolt Wisdom
This is absolutely disgusting to hear. This is a huge miscarriage of justice. These people, all these people, should be compensated fully.
David Wood
Big shout out to Private Eye, who constantly carried this story and backed the Post Office sub-postmasters.
GTJust81
I must’ve been living under a rock as this is the first I’ve heard of this. Unbelievable scandal, those poor peoples lives ruined regardless of the outcome 😔
Willie Nelson Gonzalez
My folks used to own and run a post office, consistently post office management would give them a hard time over so called “accounting errors”. They had to pay out of their own pockets. The Horizon system was never fit for purpose, it constantly suffered “IT failures”, it was riddled with problems and post office management dammed well knew of those problems and did nothing except to tarnish the reputation of decent honest hardworking Postmasters and Postmistresses. Absolutely disgusting behaviour and they hid behind a flawed accounting system to justify their heinous actions.
Gorgeous George
What did people expect? Once a nationalised company is sold to capitalists, fuckery always follows.
Rowlandslori
This was so wrong these are beautiful people they need compensation big money & an apology 🤬
Miss Purrr-fect
Not forgetting the families of the innocent who took their own lives .Hope they a good compensation payout & why haven’t the Post Office & providers been made accountable in court ? 😠
Michelle Norris
Still, no one from the Fijitsu operating system or the Post Office management team who ran the system has been held to account, please email your M.P. to request that this be pursued.
caroljean161
Wow this lack of accountability is disgusting! It saddens me but I feel there’s been is a cover up at the highest level that would expose and implicate government leaders their family and friends. I could of course be wrong… Feel so sorry for these hard working people who have been unjustly made to pay with their liberty, livelihood and reputation for crimes against them! Ashamed to be British….
Christopher G
As a programmer I just can see no excuse for this mistake. In some cases we and the customers have to make judgement calls what is preferable, what is worth the effort, etc. Transactional Consistency in Databases is not one of them. It is a absolute requirement. Without it, there is no Database. They can pretty much throw away 100 % of the Data gathered before this was patched because not a single bit of it is trustworthy.
Atul Nayak
No computer software, no matter how advanced is 100% trustworthy! The Post Office and the third party firms responsible MUST repair the damage done to those post masters / mistresses.
Mepp_Rider
Since i found out about it about two years ago, i have never used any service provided by post office. If everyone unless it is an exceptional circumstances would have none this, justice for this group of people would have been partially surved. The other part of justice they should recover from the state. As their life time and career opportunity was stolen from them.
AppleOranges12
They all need to have their names cleared, salary back paid from when they were wrongly fired to the day they win the case as well as compensation for the suffering this whole ordeal has caused. In addition, ongoing mental support paid for by the post office.
Moni Penny
Another inquiry, another sorry, but nothing will change. The laws, the rules, the jail systems are for the ordinary. When the govt commit crimes, there are no penalities.
Howard Ramsey
Nothing can fully compensate them for what they’ve been put through. Please, at least start by doing the right thing and expediting the financial compensation as quickly as possible – it’s the least they deserve.
pmarmify
put the chief executive & the board of directors who over saw this disaster in JAIL & take their pensions & homes! Use that to compensate the VICTIMS
Kenny
Just learnt about this. This is ABSOLUTELY APPALLING AND OUTRAGEOUS. My blood started to boil when I also heard that the lawyers took £48 million from the reward of £56 million as the settlement of the lawsuit, leaving only £20,000 to each victim!!!! There needs to be a LIST of NAMES of everyone involved – the CEOs, Middle managers, decision makers, bureaucrats and HEADS NEED TO ROLL !!! Someone needs to go to prison! The culprits should have their assets SEIZED just like the Russian Oligarchs and given in conpensation to the victims!!!!
ChipZilla69
I used to support these Horizon systems about 20 years ago. I worked for Fijitsu and helped the post masters balance their books on a Wednesday.
C
Absolutely disgraceful and disgusting and those in charge need to be brought to book as they knew there was something going on. It was brought to their attention i believe and yet they continued to prosecute people. These peoples lives have been ruined.
 
Hasan
A Post Office was for sale years ago, and I was so close to purchase, but the deal fell through, THANK GOD!
Sofiya
These people lost everything because of a bugged system😵
gukhaloon
Those who were affected and suffered this appalling miscarriage of justice should each be compensated in the millions of pounds.Equally,the Post Office managers who tried to hide the facts should be individually prosecuted and face significant jail terms.It would seem that innocent people going to prison for a software problem was of little import to the PO’s (so called) management.A classic example of unbelievably poor decision-making by a UK company.
Chris T
Whoever was the CEO of the post office at the time should be sued personally & so should Fujitsu who were the providers of the IT system & massive compensations should be awarded & awarded to the families that have lost loved ones in this despicable saga.
gladwell tailor
Disgusting they know what happened to those who worked hard as branches got robbed by the same gangsters using software development engineer companies associatied.
soundseeker63
Why is it ALWAYS the hard working and decent folks who end up paying for corporate greed and mistakes? 😥 The big wigs are never held accountable seemingly no matter how many lives they ruin. This public inquiry is well overdue and those responsible need to be helf to account once and for all.
hickster222
Anyone involved in the stitch up needs to be jailed for a very long time. Ten years doing porridge for each person that was wrongly convicted.
Tom288bond
Thousands of people who have stolen money in retail have got away for it. But all because its ‘Post Office’ money got they records and convictions. I for a short time ran 4 post offices across England and the system is and still is a nightmare. Everyone who uses it says its horrific and people work in fear. Post Masters don’t get paid enough for the responsibility that is beneath them. I have literally seen people break down to nothing when the system goes wrong for no reason. I really feel for the people involved
Chris Fisher
It’s always the same the CEO’s and politicians get to do what they want and everyone else has to suffer – of course management knew, they didnt care!
madal55
Shocking behaviour. Should be compensated without any bloody enquiry.
Brynn Welch
The P.O. will pay millions for the best lawyers. The P.O. is owned and run by the government. Who in the government will answer for the disgusting treatment of these people, and, most important of all, how much compensation will each receive, I suspect not a lot. They should each be awarded millions for the destruction of their lives.
Sharon Ameskamp
Sounds like a horrific scandal!!
probro9898
Horizon was the basket into the Post Office had placed all its eggs. Since it could not be seen to be failing, bosses found it convenient to make-believe that postmasters were stealing the money. Ironically, had they had faced the truth back then, the fallout would have been paltry compared to what it is now. Its a lesson we all need to learn from.
Edward Hogan
While admitting to not seeing the full picture here I cannot help feeling that the practice common in many businesses of taking out some kind of insurance against such losses would have been a better choice for the Post office. it would then have been left to the insurance company maybe to recommend on whether to seek redress. or would some kind of indemnity bond which the sub-postmasters contracting could have been required to take out have avoided all this unpleasantness? perhaps someone more experienced could comment?
George Knox
How about criminal prosecutions … for those responsible???? Where’s the justice??
Martin Tunnicliffe
“No one held accountable.” And yet it was easy enough to make hundreds of innocent Mrs Gogginses “accountable”. But that’s the thing isn’t it? Prison’s just for the little people!
 
Lloyd Watson
This needs to be stamped out.
Aqua Gene
I bet the Queens Silver Greyhounds don’t get any hassle, grief or public humiliation!
SueDenim
Our solution. Give the reigns over completely to AI after all, what could possibly go wrong 🙄
Grumpy-Dad
Another case of Lessons need to learned again.
Andy Hay.
It was the “Royal’ mail back then. The royals would have said yes to prosecuting all of these innocent community loving folks.
Martin Rangecroft
Sir, does your IT system contain any restricted items?
Google Account12
Shame on those in the Jury who wrongfully convicted these innocent people.
mr myorky
Let’s not water down the facts here. This was not an unfortunate mistake. Several hundred innocent postmasters and post ladies were deliberately accused by the Post Office. Their lives were not only totally ruined but in some cases they were sent to jail. The Post Office higher management were well aware that their computer system was faulty and deliberately suppressed the report on it rather than admitting to it. All those who knew this and were involved truly deserve to go to jail for a very long time.
LEGEND
I know a man who got convicted of post office fraud. He went to prison and was forced to leave town. He ended up getting divorced and died alone. Hope he was innocent and his family sue them. The people in charge should be forced to go to prison too.
D
Just look at that pain and tears of that Indian man. From that reaction we can see he was treated much worse, presumably because he is coloured. This is how British Indians are treated, but we suffer in silence, fearing the white man’s wrath. His generation did, anyway. His pain and tears are very real.
LeBot
About time too!. This is such a miscarriage of justice. Some people committed suicide over this. It’s an absolute disgrace. My heart goes out to all these people and the Post Office should be made accountable and brought to justice then sent to prison too.
Richard Hatfield
The directors of the post office at the time need to spend time behind bars, and not a post office counter!
Vaughan
Heartbreaking i agree, why cant i open up a post office though? i have tried and i dont get any support or funds cause am british? maybe make a report on that
LESSONS 4 LIFE
I’m never sending a letter ever again
egyptnz27
I think the same thing has happened with ANZ and kiwibank..I want recompensation..
T G
Can we do an enquiry into why this enquiry took so lol even just to start?! Not shocked tho.
Andrew Reardon
Biggest Corporate scandal and mis-carry of justice in history. My thoughts and feelings go-out to the innocent PO workers and their families who were labelled as thieves and maliciously prosecuted and sent to prison even though PO bosses knew all the time the IT system was at fault. Sheer evil. Strange how some of the PO staff were quickly visited by the police when thousands disappeared from their PO system (not really as the system was f***ed) arrested etc. So why have the bosses like Paula Vennells (an ordained Church of England minster!!) and Chairman Tim Parker, and many others, not been arrested, questioned, etc. Or does the law not apply to the rich and powerful? And I wonder if they will be allowed to hold on to the millions they took out of the PO? Or will the tax payer have to foot the bill?
adrian davies
Read Nick Wallis The great post office scandal , heartbreaking stories about how postmasters were bullied by post office investigation department
edward wigmore
these sub postmasters were wrongly convicted, and some jailed, for stealing from their post office branches when they were entirely innocent. the ‘missing’ money, which wasn’t missing at all was due to the faulty Horizon computing sysytem that was installed by the post office. there was at least one suicide caused by the distress. senior managers at the post office knew there was a fault with the system and told others not to tell anyone else. people lost their homes, their livelihoods and their reputations. yet no one from the post office has actually been brought to book for this travesty. there is an investigation underway into the dealing of the post office which will, hopefully lead to the prosecution and jailing of those managers who deliberately hid the fact that the computing system was at fault. managers deliberately lied and hid evidence to protect the reputation of themselves and the post office. this is a scandal of epic proportions and those responsible must be brought to book.
Mary Wilson
We had to pay a lot of money also for their mistakes
trinisun
Oh noooooo. Make it right! Fix it now!
rmc
This bullshit absolutely needs addressing and in the most severe way. Post Office and Fujitsu bosses need custodial sentences. As do Police who investigated these people. Why did the penny not drop as to why so many were being accused? Surely a simpleton could see this was highly unusual….
Gary Muckle
about time …. this is one of the biggest scandals in history
Andrew Shearer
Heads should roll for what was done to these innocent people ! Our establishment is a disgusting cesspit !
pvplive75
Can someone tell me who is paying these victims back?
Jonathan Helmer
There is a great BBC radio series about this outrage called The Great Post Office Trial. It’s well worth a listen
Tintin Jailhouse
Aint ya all go In snitch mode ?!! I THINK SOOO MUCH I DO !!!
sutats
That’s messed up. Such unnecessary hell.
Mike Hipperson
Was Prof Niel Ferguson responsible for programming the IT system?
Michael Stevens
How much did the system cost is there no comeback on that? and strange how justice works at a different pace for different people.
Suki Paul
The post office should never have been sold to private limited… This saga has lost the trust of hardworking postmasters/mistress..
Nick Miller
Boy, heads need to roll over this.
R S
Execute whoever is responsible. I’m sick of people getting away with stuff. Bring back the death penalty!’
SNAFUferret
Paula Vennells needs to go to prison.
Sade Sade
Boris fix this, these folks have suffered enough already, give them their money back & squash the criminal records
anthony moody
What a joke. an investigation? the facts are well known and proven. So much for justice. – –
carlman
Bs throw them in jail. Theye obviosley recognised the fault in the system and used it to their advantage instead of reporting it. Take mone from hm its going to effect every one. The fact their sat in defence in a tuxedo and nice suits says it all.
Bankai Hadouken
The elite protecting the elite. Typical!
Silvana Brasil
So today I had issue with Royal Mail delivery I have paid the price to send the parcel and the person who received had to pay again
Callum Wade
How am I just hearing of this?…
Rahere
If it’s anything like the Public School Rape enquiry, it’ll end up with the victims being blamed and left to suffer, while pious platitudes mask a complete lack of effective action.
Victoria Froggatt
So much Justice needed here, it’s disgusting what the P O has done, 😡 Just follow the money…….
Raphic Gunny
It is about time . This inquiry is long overdue. So sad that all this people suffeerd Justice must be served
David Edbrooke
The PO has Ben incompetent and vindictive?
Hugo Hackenbush
Those poor people. It is truly disgusting that no one is willing to admit culpability. All that I can offer is my heartfelt good wishes to all the innocent who were grievously impacted by this horrific Kafkaesque treatment. As for the two perpetrators, may all involved in the cover up get totally fucked over and have their respective lives destroyed.
Ramona Nicola
Let’s be honest – some IT people are really rubbish at what they do.
IBIZABIKE
In the us, each would have got at least a million
rcheliguygb
Compensation now. Millions!!!!!!
envsf03
Fujitsu must be held accountable for this scandal in which they ruined innocent people’s lives. Also Paula Vennells should be stripped of her CBE.
John Lott
I sincerely hope that computer programming cowboy outfit is out of business.
Chris Lee
Terrible, …victims need compensation for loss of earnings and suffering created by this. Millions each!! PAY UP NOT SO ROYAL MAIL!!!!
Mr Coiganable
Always about compensation
L L I M A H
Did Postman Pat take an unauthorised day off likes? 🤔
Falstaff 1893
The real crooks are not being prosecuted!!
Jonathan Jamie
These people should be tottaly compensation
Based Libertarian [Z]
So much for big government lol
micky mouse123
COMPENSATION — £££££££££££££££££££££££££££
djjlc
Why are they sending people to prison for none violent crimes in the first place?!!!
Hello You
Who made money out of this ?
G G
Post office used to open my mothers letters and steal the money which family members would send via post
gpo746
Disgusting. These poor innocent people have lost their livelyhoods , homes , reputations and relationships over this criminal scandal. Its about time that they had an apology and some compensation for their losses .
owen ferguson
How many years..and from the news That I see over the period of over twenty years I thought it only involves Asian Know that they are found innocent. None Asian are being featured more. In the news . where were they all these years.
Rob Lyn
Pay them the compensation they rightly deserve.
yeti dodger
Rest assured no one at the top of the food chain will take the fall.
kanedNunable
did all this happen after privatisation? hmmmm
tru3
NOT A BUG IN THE SYSTEM, BUT A SLUSH FUND ….6, 5&6 SAVVY
steve55 sogood
Those hiding behind the mask of Royal Mail, should be rooted out, named, shamed, and prosecuted! To think this happened in this country, makes me ashamed!
Derf
Thats the Cost of stamps going up
Rob Lewis
Post Office own up and pay these poor people….
 
Jim Bob
But but but….computers make everything better
fluidjazz
Why are these people not suing Horizon and the Post Office back to the stone age?
316SR
Boris partied with your money…….now shut up.
Mijin Civilization
I am the alpha and omega