Mr Bates And The Post Office

[retrocop]

Did anyone watch the first of four episodes last night.

I was left seething before  the first commercial break.What an awful corrupt evil organisation the Post Office hierarchy is.Unfortunately a law unto itself with all the unlawful prosecutions they bought against several hundred innocent sub- postmasters/mistresses. The P.O. lied their teeth out by telling the victims that they were the 'Only' ones who had reported a fault with their Horizon computing system where as it was happening over the UK. These were,in fact,'Phantom discrepancies in the acounts due to a faulty system yet the victims were threatened and imprisoned if they failed to make good the non-existent shortfall with their own money. It makes you want to weep. I will probably binge watch the next three episodes tonight. Toby Jones plays a good part alongside 'Haley' from Corrie.

 

[pastafreak]

I was thinking of watching that...and forgot. Catch-up it is then.

[retrocop]

We found it compelling,sad,viewing Pasta. Such awful injustice. It may make you angry.

[douglas9401]

Deaf, dumb and blind justice coupled with a lack of any real action against the accusers leaves the man in the street wondering what chance he'd have once wheels were set in motion.

It's a rigged game.

[Jarg]

I watched it and now I'm hooked after the 1st episode.

Might just bing watch it on itv X.

[Jarg]

𝘽𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙀 

[andy-hughes]

The problem appears to be the company's rigid determination to believe that a large number of its employees were thieves, rather than entertaining the entirely more feasible notion that their software was at fault.

The continued unwillingness to acknowledge the simple reality of what happened, and their horrific reaction to it, remains a stain on the company to this day. 

[Ellipsis]

I've been watching that story across many years - maybe 10 or 15 - and I knew I'd still be seething watching it last night, and I was.  It was a travesty.

This was the first Computer Weekly article from 2009:

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240089230/Bankruptcy-prosecution-and-disrupted-livelihoods-Postmasters-tell-their-story

See how much detail was there already then. How can it still not be completely cleared up in 2024???

[Patsy33]

My daughter was watching it last night. Knew of it and gave me the run down on it all. I was too busy to watch, but got the gist of it. It certainly makes you very angry about it all. That's the justice system for you! Hope they all had suitable compensation.

[Ellipsis]

> Hope they all had suitable compensation

No, they're still thinking about it ... in the meantime, some of the victims are dead, some by natural causes, some by suicide ...

[ToraToraTora]

I've commented on this fiasco many times in the past and I just can't fathom the evil that must have been involed here. Rather than investigate the software, if only to verify their initial belief that thousands of post masters were tealeaves. Surley just a simple ledger recon would have shown the faulty arithmetic being used. Very sad episode, I have it recorded to watch when I can.

[retrocop]

The P.O. pleaded they had insufficient funds to give adequate compensation to the innocent victims.

These alleged thefts and fraud charges were 'Phantom discrepancies'in a system that did not exist and the P.O. extorted money from the life savings of innocent people. What makes it so sad is,to me,the fact that the SPMs were pillars of society in their community and for the most part a lifeline for vulnerable customers and then to be treated by the Post Office Investigation Unit in a manner that Heydrich's SS would of been proud. Shocking.

[ToraToraTora]

I work on a major bank's mainframe custody system and when we get an anomoly we analyse, debug, repeat the error in test, report fix test again. 99% of the time it's software or incomplete data that's the problem. I just cannot conceive of the arrogance that must have prevailed in the PO, shocking.

[Patsy33]

Oh no.. Elipsis..Oh that is heartbreaking.

[Patsy33]

Let's hope lessons are learned from this travesty. I shan't hold my breath..

[ToraToraTora]

This is the evil Bee hatch that should be the slammer along with the rest of her reports.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Vennells

 

[Ellipsis]

Yes, another dent in the Honours system:

In the 2019 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to the Post Office and to charity".

2019!

[Countrylover]

I forgot to watch it .  Definitely I'll be catching up.

[Ellipsis]

> The P.O. pleaded they had insufficient funds to give adequate compensation to the innocent victims.

Too big to fail ... but has a single person or company been prosecuted for their behaviour? No ... instead, the top woman got a CBE for services to the Post Office that pleaded it had insufficient funds to give adequate compensation to the innocent victims.

[-SharonA-]

^^^^^ disgraceful!!!

I watched this and was totally shocked at how much power the P O had in terms of taking people to court.

[Maydup]

What a brilliant well made drama. I was fuming beforehand and am even more angry now I've seen the detail and true effect it all had on real people. Sadly we know the ending and it's still not full justice for all.