Shouldn't the makers of the Horizon computer company share some of the blame and compensation too? They told a lot of lies and made the system in the first place!
I've learnt today that the Met are looking to bring charges and they've interviewed, under caution, two people who worked for Fujitsu, the company that delivered the Horizon system.
Watch the YouTube video Delivering the Fail, the post office IT scandal by Brian Whelton. Not sure how to post link to the video, but it's a real eye opener.
A bit of a development today, Ed Davey is coming under criticism for his role during the coalition government...Davey says he didn't pursue it because the Post Office executives lied to him...I rarely believe anything from a modern politician, but in this case I believe him.
The Post Office, although a limited company, is wholly owned by the taxpayer. Parliament should have been all over this and surely there was a Minister who should have overseen the Post Office's response after the scandal broke.
He could be in some trouble from this (electorally) whether he was culpable or not, the issue has been massively raised in the public consciousness by this series and he (and the Lib Dems) could suffer as a consequence..
Tony Blair was PM when this system was installed, there may be questions asked as to what was known then. Apparently they went for the cheapest one of the options available.
Not necessarily the wrong decision. The problem seemed to be that there was a load of covering up of the problems.
Purchasing the system doesn’t admit guilt. The fact the PO ignored the initial feedback about faults, then used their unique powers to convict people, take money from them and take their homes off them arbitrarily is the issue here, whilst covering it all up.
Somebody mentioned Ed Davey earlier in the thread, it sounded like quite a few MP's ignored the pleas when sub postmasters wrote to them. Just goes to prove that even in the Tory party there are some good ones though. James Arbuthnot deserves a lot of credit for his actions, I doubt Alan Bates and co would have got anywhere without his interventions. Actor who played him in the series, called him and discussed his role and was full of praise. Great background work from the actor Alex Jennings, defo did his homework on the character. As others have said, Fujitsu as well if the dramatisation was correct they have a lot to answer for. Like when they tried to deny that guy had visited them, their joke of a helpline denying any other people had issues etc. Just shocking all round.
As others have said, the cheapest system isn't the problem, denying the problems and blaming the users is. Any computer system has bugs (one of the reasons that I distrust AI and driverless cars etc), what the PO and Fujitsu should have been doing was believing the users and working with them to identify the problems and fixing the system. None of it ever needed to happen.
I'm not trying to imply any wrong doing, just saying after 20+ years there is a lot to look into. As a Techy person I think you will find this You Tube vid interesting. It gets going about 5 mins in.
Cracked the million at 20 past midnight tonight....apparently Vennells has removed any reference to her Post Office days from her linkedin profile.
Only just finished watching this. Absolutely terrifying to see how people's lives can be ruined like that, and the only people convicted are the ones that have been defrauded out of tens of thousands of pounds. Couldn't give a monkeys about Vennells' CBE, can see a situation where that is taken off her and seen a sufficient. There should be people in the docks of criminal courts. But sadly, I doubt that there will be. Another example of how much this country stinks to be honest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67922410 Paula Vennels handing medal back Result ! For the pole at least. Still a lot to be done
Bates wanted to meet him and he didn't do so, he chose to believe the Post Office when he they said they were all crooked.
Not so sure about that. Isn’t her handing the gong back tantamount to an admission of her guilt in all of this? I’m now thinking that Alan Bates should now be offered the opportunity to accept the gong which he previously chose to decline