The Communication Workers Union (CWU) of the UK has issued a statement, following the huge public reaction to the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which aired last week.
The four-part drama depicted the injustice suffered by hundreds of innocent British postmasters, who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting by their Post Office employers when faulty software caused accounting mistakes to appear in local post offices around the country. With many imprisoned for offences they did not commit, the debacle has been called the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
Alan Bates of the title was the postmaster who campaigned for years to have the convictions overturned. He is played in the drama by actor Toby Jones.
In the days since the drama aired, thousands of British viewers have demanded that the Post Office’s former CEO Paula Vennells – the boss who oversaw the operation – be stripped of her CBE.
Now the CWU’s National Officer Andy Furey has joined those voices saying:
“The CWU fully reiterates our demand that the government strips former Chief Executive Officer Paula Vennells of her CBE – this honour for Post Office services is an insult to every postmaster who were treated so abhorrently under her leadership.
He added: “Mr Bates vs the Post Office has been a tremendously moving depiction of such a harrowing story that has rightly been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice ever seen in the UK.
“Alan Bates and the Justice For Sub-Postmaster Alliance must be lauded for their tireless efforts to expose the disgraceful actions of the Post Office.
“The emotional response from across the country has been a vindication for Alan Bates and those who fought a crusade to overturn the Post Office establishment, who closed ranks to defend the Horizon (IT) system – even though this meant Postmasters being imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit.
“It has also been vindicating for CWU members in the Post Office, who have supported the efforts of the JFSA in fighting this injustice for well over a decade.
“Sadly, this fight was necessary as hundreds of Postmasters were let down and abandoned by the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, who failed them every step of the way due to their blind and unquestionable support for the Post Office Board.”