To draw your attention to Mr Bates vs The Post Office

[5foot5]

There is already a thread about this on the Telly Addicts forum here

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4970440-mr-bates-vs-the-post-office-mon-to-thur-itv-9pm-tv-pace-no-spoilers

However this seems like such an important subject that I thought I would draw attention to it on AIBU.

The first episode aired tonight but the whole series is available on itvx.

Most of you will no doubt have heard about the Horizon scandal, but whether you have or you haven't this program is compelling. It will probably make you furious but it deserves as wide an audience as possible.,

@Yoyo2021 she was having electric shock therapy. Be warned there is a suicide scene in the third episode

I’ve never heard of it electric shock therapy.

I can’t believe it for something she did not do.

Thank you for heads up on episode three.

The post office should be shut down!

Have watched all of it. At times was in tears for those poor people-how come that happened and I never heard anything about it till now?

@Yoyo2021 its quite a well known treatment in psychiatric hospitals.

I will watch this. A relative of dh was a victim. They lost their home over it. And their marriage. Absolutely awful.

This country rewards incompetence, corruption and cover-ups. At our expense.

That's awful, I'm sorry!

Just started watching it and I'm fuming!

The post office should be shut down!

That really would be a kick in the teeth for sub-postmasters.

The programme is so upsetting. So many lives ruined and yet the PO still tried to cover it up. It's a scandal - and those seniors should go to prison.

It does - we are overdue a proper clean up.

A postmaster from my town was involved in this scandal and accused narrowly avoiding jail. Sadly he died from cancer before his name was cleared

Agree with all pp, this is vital viewing and a horrendous and almost unbelievable saga for those poor people.

Also just a point to note, after visiting Alan Bates official campaign website - the Post Office and Royal Mail are two completely separate entities so mustn't be mixed up. Royal Mail was sold off in 2012 and privatised, but the Post Office was and is solely owned by the Government. And the Post Office is what we are talking about here.

This is shocking

Who said Paula Vennalls, should get an award and what was it for?

This is tragic for all the victims.

And people will still frequently claim that public services "should be nationalised" because it would make everything better. Reminder: The Post Office is owned by the government - it wasn't privatised like Royal Mail was. So, just how much worse could this situation possibly be?!

Essentially it's another government IT scandal. Yes, Fujitsu is a private company, but so are all the providers of government IT projects.

She received her CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services to the Post Office and to charity. They don’t say who nominates a person but honours are authorised /agreed by committees run by the Cabinet Office (who are meant to do due diligence) and then once agreed put to the PM and finally the Queen (now King) for authorisation.

It would be unusual for the Royals to block an award once it has been through this process: so in short in her case it would predominantly be a Civil Service and political decision.

Placemarking to join the conversation when I've watched it.

I don't think I have ever watched anything that made me so angry. Possibly, Hillsborough and all the lies told about the fans.
They knew, they bloody knew and still destroyed peoples' lives.
The people responsible should be dealt with by the criminal courts.
My thoughts are with all the victims of this appalling miscarriage of justice.

I agree with this!

I know that a suicide was involved, should that actually be manslaughter?

This has been in the press for year @CharlottePimpernel . Surprised you didn’t know but so sorry you were affected.

I watched the whole thing. I did know about it as I worked in a post office for a time, and I think it was brilliantly portrayed. I am glad that it's raising awareness now. What amazing strong people to fight it!
It's just astonishing the the post office are still getting away with not compensating people!

I have been following this for years, the BBC has reported on it many times, Panorama made a documentary about it in 2020, here it is.

The people responsible for this need considerably prison time, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

I know it might be complicated to bring charges against senior people at the Post Office and Fujitsu over this but surely there is some evidence of perjury or perverting the course of justice? It really is scandalous that people who cause such wilful devastation always seem to be rewarded with honours, payouts and promotions, and are rarely punished. It's worrying that a company as incompetent and sinister as Fujitsu is so deeply embedded into our public service infrastructure.

There is also a documentary about the real people portrayed in this drama on ITVX. Jess, the woman who tried to kill herself, lost all memory of her childhood due to the ECT treatment and is still on medication. Institutions and corporations shouldn't escape justice when they have done that to people. Does anyone know if the Post Office can still conduct its own criminal investigations and prosecutions?

Yes Hillsborough is the other incident that springs to mind.

But these are the ones we know about. I wonder how many more of these scandals are going to happen.

I definitely think there is scope for people to be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice - and some of the lawyers involved need to be investigated by their regulatory authorities - however, the Solicitors Regulatory Authority is crap - maybe the Bar Council is more effective. There was one barrister who gave evidence at the inquiry and more or less admitted being negligent, so he should be investigated.

I am not sure any organisation should have its own prosecution powers - all should have to go via the CPS to have some degree of independence.

I had no idea Paula V received her award so recently! That is shocking!

I thought it was some years ago before the full extent of the Horizon scandal was known (despite reading Nick Wallis's book, clearly didn't read it properly).