Mr. Bates vs Post Office

At last, one of our many successive governments looks like it is going to do something serious about the compensation and overturned convictions part of the subpostmasters story – but only because they can see the nation demands it. One thing we shouldn’t have any truck with is people complaining that it took a TV drama to raise the issue to outraged national consciousness. I’ve been in touch over the past couple of days with several people either involved in this story, or who produced the earliest journalism on it, and you won’t find a single one of them begrudging the way the scandal has finally gone nuclear. They are simply thrilled that somehow, anyhow, we might be moving closer to resolution for the victims. Forgive me – the surviving victims.

I have not been able to watch the programme as my own experiences as a Sub-postmaster make it all too painful.

In 2011 I took over a large rural branch and realised very early on that there were significant problems with Horizon. In fact, I could crash the system and create a gain or a loss if I wanted (I was significantly younger than a typical subpostmaster and very tech savvy). I sent video footage of this to Post Office, who never replied. I let my local MP know, I contacted Ed Davey, Vince Cable and David Cameron. Nothing.

I suffered a violent armed robbery during that first year. Thieves barged through a "secure" door and escaped with a couple of grand. I prevented them getting hundreds of thousands in cash and stock by preventing access to the main safe despite having a knife against my throat in front of my partner.

Auditors arrived the next day as expected, a couple of weeks later I got the letter saying I should pay for what was taken and had to attend a displicinary. They backed down after I took legal advice. It came to light that Post Office knew the door type was faulty but didn't want to pay to replace them. The wiring fell out of the panic buttons and did nothing, the alarm (which wasn't monitored) failed and was condemned.

But Post Office weren't finished. They spent five years refusing to improve any security, meaning I'd have up to a quarter of a million pounds in cash sat in a cupboard with no alarm. In my bloody house. After a robbery like that every bang or noise left me fearing another robbery.

Why did they refuse? Because they would only upgrade the security if I engaged in 'network transformation' - the governments 'modernisation' programme they spent billions of pounds on. Which cut subpostmasters pay, in return for working more hours. This was meant to be voluntary, but eventually they forced it on us so I closed the branch and took action for breach of contract. I wrote publically to Paula Venells about the bullying, the treatment, the utter hell they put me and my family through. The local papers and the Independent carried it. She never replied although their legal team did. My MP didn't do much, my complaints to the government went unanswered. My marriage fell apart.

The Horizon scandal was utterly horrific. But the idea the government didn't know what was going on (and unfortunately I include the Lib Dems here) is wrong. If you speak to any subpostmaster they will tell you about the fears of Horizon, balance day, phoning the hell line etc. I was never contacted by Post Office about any compensation scheme - several times I had to stick a few hundred quid in to make the figures work. If the government had spoken to any Subpostmaster, the vast majority would have raised serious concerns about what this organisation was doing.

The thing is while all the attention is on Horizon the government is able to ignore what they have done to Subpostmasters and the network:

Network Transformation from 2012 wasted billions forcing potentially unlawful contract changes on Subpostmasters. The government promised it would be a voluntary programme yet it soon became compulsory because so few wanted the shite new contracts.

Many Subpostmasters don't even earn the minimum wage because they are 'self employed' - yet post office dictate the pay (no union bargaining), what you wear, the hours you work etc. No holiday pay, sick pay nada. They dictate the pay Subpostmasters get for each transaction, which they just cut at their discretion. To put this in perspective, in 2011 I earned approximately £60,000 for the branch. The same branch would now be under £15,000 with longer opening hours.

After any armed robbery the default position was to make the Subpostmaster pay. There was no support, counselling, or humanity.

A total hierarchy of bullying, incompetence, lies and abuse.

This is why this scandal happened - it isn't an isolated thing this government owned company did. It is an indicator of their approach to the business and disdain for Subpostmasters.

There needs to be an inquiry that hears from many more Subpostmasters and looks at how much government money was wasted making branches look pretty at the expense of those who run them. There needs to be total justice for all Horizon victims. And current Subpostmasters need a much fairer deal.