One to Watch: Mr Bates vs the Post Office

One to watch on catch-up: Mr Bates vs the Post Office

Mr Bates vs the Post Office is the first big ITV drama of 2024 and is the prime example of what happens when people believe accounting systems can’t be wrong! It is also a story of terrible abuse of power, where people work in a system where they can’t tell the truth. And yes, we are talking about the Post Office here – you must stop thinking it’s all Postman Pat.

The malfunctioning accounting software called Horizon (created by Fujitsu) was full of bugs, errors and defects, but that didn’t stop 736 prosecutions of sub-postmasters.

Hard-working people were imprisoned, made homeless and forced into poverty. Divorce, depression and even suicide followed and no one has been brought to account.

The CEO between 2012 and 2019, Paula Vennells, was awarded a CBE for ‘services to the Post Office’, but she has now promised to give it back. This followed a petition for it to be returned, and last time we looked 1,228,000 people had signed it prior to the announcement. See http://tinyurl.com/3jc6z6jr.

The public inquiry into the scandal starts again this month.

Check out what we wrote about the scandal in February 2022: see http://tinyurl.com/mr4628d8