Alan Bates vs The Post Office

[Albionmad]

Well worth a watch.
Horrendous collateral damage inflicted on ordinary people by Fujitsu and PO senior management as they tried to cover up flaws in the Horizon software.

Justice still not fully meted out.

[garryowensneck]

You do wonder at the sheer incompetence of companies/people involved in situations like this.

I know a couple of people who have been badly affected by the current issues surrounding the West Midlands Pension Scheme and frankly I'd want someone's head on a plate if it was happening to me.

[Squid]

I hope Private Eye got the lions share of the credit. They were the first with the story and doggedly pursued it for years.

[Borin' Baggie]

I hope Private Eye got the lions share of the credit. They were the first with the story and doggedly pursued it for years.

PE were relentless in pushing it but saying they deserve the lions share does a disservice to Bates and Computer Weekly.

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Paula Vennells, Adam Crozier and Moya Greene have blood on their hands.

[Fulham Fallout]

You do wonder at the sheer incompetence of companies/people involved in situations like this.

I know a couple of people who have been badly affected by the current issues surrounding the West Midlands Pension Scheme and frankly I'd want someone's head on a plate if it was happening to me.

When my mom passed away 3 months ago, I phoned WMPF to let them know she’d passed away.  The automated message told me I’d have to wait over an hour instead and to try their website to contact them, which I did. 

On their website there was an option to notify them that a member had passed away. So far, so good.

The site asked for my name, address, email address, relationship to the deceased etc. 

Then I had to fill in details relating to my mom including her email address which was a mandatory field.  Not surprisingly, my 90 year old mom has never had an email address and so I entered the email address of the lead cater at my mom’s care home. 

Immediately after submitting the form I received an automated email from WMPF which started Dear Mrs FF.  even though the form I submitted asked for my name, the email addressed my late mom.

I then received a phone call from my mom’s lead carer to say she’d received an email from WMPF relating to my mom.  So, they’d emailed a dead person!!!  If they’d written to her registered address or used an email address they had on their system, then I’d have understood that, in case someone was telling them someone had died, when they hadn’t.  But they emailed the address I entered. 

The email to me said they’d be in touch within 10 working days.

I had previously registered  power of attorney with WMPF and all the previous pension correspondence came to me at my home address. 

I never heard anything from WMPF following notifying them that my mom had passed away and they continued to pay the pension in to her bank account. 

The solicitor is now dealing with all the estate now and they can sort out the refund that needs to go back to WMPF.

But it made me realise what a shit organisation they are, to make such basic automated mistakes and to totally ignore a form submitted to them via their portal.

[Gzbaggy]

I hope Private Eye got the lions share of the credit. They were the first with the story and doggedly pursued it for years.

PE were relentless in pushing it but saying they deserve the lions share does a disservice to Bates and Computer Weekly.

---

Paula Vennells, Adam Crozier and Moya Greene have blood on their hands.

There was a really good documentary on this about a year ago, I think it might have been Panorama. They implied
that PV felt the brand name was far more important than sending innocent people to prison. Never mind "blood on their hands" these people ought to be charged and if found guilty sent to prison.

[Protheroe]

The NHS has got away with the premature deaths of tens of thousands of people in the last decade alone.

The contaminated blood scandal has yet to be dealt with despite many of those affected having already died.

This is what government and large institutions do; they treat people with contempt and attempt to cover it up - often succeeding. It's why I refer to government as a necessary evil, there is no benign form of governance.

[Derek Hardballs]

I hope Private Eye got the lions share of the credit. They were the first with the story and doggedly pursued it for years.

PE were relentless in pushing it but saying they deserve the lions share does a disservice to Bates and Computer Weekly.

---

Paula Vennells, Adam Crozier and Moya Greene have blood on their hands.

Not to mention the Lib Dem Minister for the Post Office, Mr Ed Davey who by most accounts wouldn’t even meet the campaigners.

[Protheroe]

Not to mention the Lib Dem Minister for the Post Office, Mr Ed Davey who by his own account wouldn’t even meet the campaigners.

I've corrected that for you.

[Borin' Baggie]

I hope Private Eye got the lions share of the credit. They were the first with the story and doggedly pursued it for years.

PE were relentless in pushing it but saying they deserve the lions share does a disservice to Bates and Computer Weekly.

---

Paula Vennells, Adam Crozier and Moya Greene have blood on their hands.

Not to mention the Lib Dem Minister for the Post Office, Mr Ed Davey who by most accounts wouldn’t even meet the campaigners.

Do you want me to get party political?

Who was the party in power that Horizon was set up under?

Who was the party in power when the issues with Horizon first came to light and ignored?

Who was the party in power for the first legal action over this?


Quite frankly, and Alan Bates has said this, the issue lies with the Post Office/RM who continually lied to government, covered up issues with the system to preserve their brand and aggressively used "expert" witnesses to undermine the legal system and cause several miscarriages of justice. Bates started campaigning in 2004, PE and Computer Weekly started publishing info in 2008. The first time the government pushed for an enquiry into Horizon and PO was started in 2012 (Google Second Sight's involvement).

I do find it hilarious how you're repeating a Daily Mail smear campaign against the Lib Dems to undermine their campaign against the Tories though.