Mr Bates vs the Post Office

[Kippaxpete]

cringing to watch... constant 'I don't recall that' , 'I'm unsure of that' to everything.

Like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know you shouldn't look but it's impossible to avert your gaze.

 

[Blue Maverick]

My thinking exactly and also having been involved in franchising ( dont know if they were franchisees themselves but they were all part of a corporate chain ) for many years and I know that people in the chain talk, why weren't these individual problems highlighted between themselves a lot sooner and brought to the front before this got out of hand. I know I would have been on the phone to other sub postmasters to see if they were having the same problems instead of just accepting from the PO that ' I was the only one having problems '.

Watching the program one of them did start ringing round and eventually found someone in the same situation, I suppose I initially it wouldn’t come to mind but then when you’ve nowhere else to go you start to wonder.

 

[Eebo]

My thinking exactly and also having been involved in franchising ( dont know if they were franchisees themselves but they were all part of a corporate chain ) for many years and I know that people in the chain talk, why weren't these individual problems highlighted between themselves a lot sooner and brought to the front before this got out of hand. I know I would have been on the phone to other sub postmasters to see if they were having the same problems instead of just accepting from the PO that ' I was the only one having problems '.

From the ITV drama it was suggested that the sub-postmasters Union was in the pocket of the PO management and was pretty useless.

One of the key characters turned up at one of the meetings and was initially made unwelcome because he worked for the Union, it was only because his wife was in the same boat and had been accused of stealing that he shared what he knew

 

[dooie68]

Both the PO side and letter's (they're kept separate but under the same banner), are piss poorly run,I know form them ruining my career with the letters side of the business. Basically if the people at the top wanted to ignore an issue or have a problem flagged and they didn't like the probable outcome the Grievance went nowhere until the employee(or union who are frankly toothless except the CWU ) went away of their own accord (resigned basically) nothing was ever done. The Royal Mail is like a duck swimming against the current, looking serene on top and flapping like fuck below.! And remember this is a government owned institution

 

[dickie davies]

Did anybody ever think to look at the worse cases of so-called theft and examine more closely those accused?

Surely if they had stolen such vast sums of money their bank accounts, possessions and life style would have reflected their increase in wealth?

Looking at those the Post Office took to court there was no sign whatsoever they had suddenly had a windfall.

The whole sorry affair is utterly disgusting.

This was one of the main areas of questioning earlier in the hearing
In numerous reports, the investigators said that there was no evidence of theft, so because the Horizon system was saying the stock was wrong/there was a shortfall, the SPM's were given the choice, be charged with theft and face imprisonment or a charge of false accounting and receive a conviction with no custodial sentence

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Vennells is a liar or completely incompetent , nearly every question she has to pause and think of what might be a safe answer ,she cant remember anything that might incriminate her , she didnt know what was going on , even her written witness statement has been pulled to pieces , how a person with this amount of stupidity was in a position as CEO of a major corporation is mind boggling

She should return every penny she earned including bonus's whilst working for the post office and sent to prison , the same prison's the wrongly accused subpostmasters were sent , whilst Vennels walked into another cushy well paid job as a chair of an NHS trust , she lasted 12 months and also packed in her religious duties and resigned from the diocese , perhaps she could get the job as prison priest in Styal.

But what will happen , it wil alll be swept under the carpet and forgotten about just like Michelle Mone who has stolen millions from the NHS , nothing will be done , if you have bundles of money the prosecutors memories are easily erased.

 

[City Hobgoblin]

How much was she paid to be so unaware of what was going on in the organisation she was being paid to manage?

 

[Tommy_Catons_Perm]

Well yes there is that!
On a serious note, we're yet to discover how/why/when all the "recovered" money was accounted for in the published accounts-yet possibly more fraud.

Elbow Beards is being more serious than you realise. I'm sure it was mentioned in the news, not long after the ITV drama was aired, that the money recovered from the post masters was included in post office profits.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Vennells is a liar or completely incompetent , nearly every question she has to pause and think of what might be a safe answer ,she cant remember anything that might incriminate her , she didnt know what was going on , even her written witness statement has been pulled to pieces , how a person with this amount of stupidity was in a position as CEO of a major corporation is mind boggling

But it's not illegal to be incompetent. Reminds me of this line:

 

[blueste41]

Elbow Beards is being more serious than you realise. I'm sure it was mentioned in the news, not long after the ITV drama was aired, that the money recovered from the post masters was included in post office profits.

I have no doubt it ended up on POL bottom line the question I asked, which remains unanswered, is how/what/why/when it ended up there? Even Nick Wallis is only prepared to go as far as it's "perfectly likely" it ended up on the bottom line. Without knowing how/what/why/when nobody can be held
accountable.

Podcast: Where Did All The Money Go?

It is the question I have probably been asked the most over the years. The long answer is in the podcast I have recorded with Mark Baker (left in the photo above), a long-serving Subpostmaster and …

www.postofficescandal.uk