by A petition calling for former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to be stripped of her CBE has surpassed 500,000 signatures following the final episode of an ITV1 drama about the sub-postmasters scandal on Thursday night .
Mr Bates vs The Post Office looks at the scandal which resulted in more than 700 Royal Mail staff being prosecuted between 2000 and 2014 based on incorrect information in the service’s computer system. Submasters and subpostmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting, and some of them were later convicted and imprisoned.
Vennells, who served as chief executive of Royal Mail from 2012 to 2019, oversaw the organization while routinely denying there were problems with its Horizon IT system. She was awarded a CBE “for services to the Post Office and to charities” in the 2019 New Year’s Honors list. In 2021, she said she was “truly sorry for the suffering caused” after the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of 39 employees who were victims of flaws in the service’s Horizon software, manufactured by Fujitsu.
The Post Office reached a settlement with 555 workers in 2019, but some died before they could see justice. Around 90 convictions have so far been overturned and compensation payments made, while an independent public inquiry will continue this year.
An online petition calling for Vennells to be stripped of his title was started three years ago and received little attention at the time. However, after the ITV show aired, signatures soared and surpassed the 300,000 mark following the drama’s final episode on Thursday night. The total as of Friday morning was more than 350,000 and continued to rise apace in the afternoon, with 540,000 at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
“Having been awarded a CBE for services to the Post Office and having risen to other senior positions in government and healthcare, it is only right that this award is now withdrawn through the confiscation process,” the letter states. request, on the 38 Degree website. , she says.
In December 2019, in a damning ruling on the Horizon issues, the High Court ruled that the original Horizon system had not been sufficiently robust and had suffered from a number of errors. In his judgment, Mr Justice Fraser said the Post’s approach “demonstrates a simple institutional obstinacy or refusal to consider possible alternatives to its vision of Horizon, which was maintained regardless of the weight of factual evidence to the contrary”.
He added: “This approach by the Post Office has amounted, in reality, to mere assertions and denials that ignore what actually happened, at least as far as the witnesses called before me in the Horizon Issues trial are concerned. It amounts “The 21st century equivalent of arguing that the Earth is flat.”
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Since ITV aired his show, calls have been made for Vennells to hand back his CBE, including from Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake, whose remit includes postal services. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Ultimately you bear responsibility for what happened here, you are the chief executive, if I were Paula Vennells I would seriously consider returning it voluntarily right now.”
Meanwhile, Alan Bates himself, the Welsh subpostmaster at the heart of the ITV drama, revealed how he turned down an OBE because he didn’t feel right accepting it while Vennells still had his title. He told BBC Breakfast: “If I accepted it would be on behalf of the whole group, but accepting it would have been a slap in the face really while Paula Vennells is still clinging to her CBE, for services to the Post Office. If it would have been a disservice to the Post Office, I would understand.
Although this may not be as symbolic as losing a title, the current head of the Post Office has said he will return his entire bonus payment linked to the Horizon investigation. Nick Read has again apologized for “procedural and governance errors made” in linking significant bonus payments to work related to the investigation.
He said he would repay this part of the £455,000 bonus he received in 2021/22, which is understood to amount to £54,400.
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer refuse to back calls for Vennells to lose CBE
Rishi Sunak commented on the scandal on Thursday, adding that the government has no role in the potential dismantling of Vennells’ CBE. The prime minister said there is an independent process carried out by the Honors Forfeiture Committee, which is separate from the government.
He added: “But more broadly, my job is to make sure that we’re putting compensation plans in place and that all those people who were treated terribly, suffered an egregious miscarriage of justice, get the justice they deserve. I’m pleased that we’re doing that.” and I urge everyone affected to come forward and ensure they can benefit from those plans.”
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer also stopped short of asking Vennells to hand back his CBE. He told ITV News: “Whether she returns her award is really a matter for her. But I think there is a bigger point in many ways here: compensation for these victims is overdue. It was due to be paid in December. The Treasury has… I set aside the money, but the Government has not paid it.
“That is why I tell the Government to do the right thing and pay compensation to the victims of this miscarriage.”
Watch: Wrongly convicted subpostmaster says Paula Vennells has ‘ruined an important institution’
ITV drama ‘brings it all back’
Those affected by the scandal have spoken of the emotion that the broadcast of the series has awakened in them, which brings back difficult memories.
Pam Stubbs, who ran Barkham Post Office in Berkshire and who appears in the series, said watching it left her in tears. She told the Bracknell News: “I had already seen it at a preview screening and ended up crying. It wasn’t any easier to watch it at home. It’s a difficult show.”
He added: “Several people in the town told me they found it very difficult and had to turn it off. They said it was absolutely heartbreaking.”
Deirdre Connolly said the drama “just brought it all back”, telling the BBC: “It’s been very, very difficult for a lot of people.” Connolly previously described how she was told to plead guilty to her and forced to pay a discrepancy of more than £15,000 which she did not owe, forcing her family to remortgage her home and be declared bankrupt. bankruptcy.
He said his health has worsened and he now has epilepsy, which he believes was brought on by stress, and told the BBC: “The stigma of it all was just horrible. My life will never be the same.”
