No solution on the horizon for the victims of the British Horizon scandal

Even UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called it “one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history”, something the British Readmission Commission wholeheartedly agree with. King Charles has withdrawn a knighthood that was awarded to the post’s ex-director. And dozens of former postmasters have become national celebrities for sharing their stories.

Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before action leader Alan Bates and the other, nearly 1,000 postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal are satisfied.

– The postal service cannot be saved, Bates said on Wednesday in a clip that was reproduced by The Independent. The outcome came during a hearing in the independent, government-appointed investigation into the scandal.

Drama series created attention

The scandal has become known to most Britons through the TV drama “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office”, which received up to ten million viewers when it was broadcast over the New Year – and which is now available in Norway. But the matter began already before the turn of the millennium.

In 1999, the British postal service introduced the Post Office IT system Horizon from Fujitsu, to assist with accounting and inventory. Complaints quickly came from postmasters around the UK: Horizon was coming up with figures they couldn’t understand matched reality. The program claimed thousands of pounds had been lost.

The postmasters were accused of embezzlement, fraud and theft. At least 983 postmasters were prosecuted, many of them by the postal service itself, writes BBC.

Four committed suicide

236 of them ended up in prison, according to The Guardian. Fewer than half of these have had their sentences overturned.

In total, at least 4,000 people were injured, when you count all the relatives of them. Many lost their jobs, others had to declare personal bankruptcy or lost their homes, families were destroyed. And, not least – at least four took their own lives.

Bates himself took over a post office in North Wales in 1998. Five years later it was over, he had been sacked after Horizon claimed money had disappeared from the post office. His savings were lost.

– You’re the one

– But unlike many other postmasters, who felt enormous pressure, Bates refused to take responsibility. He raised concerns about false losses, and tried to fight, the BBC writes.

In 2009, the first media case appeared in Computer Weekly. The magazine smelled like a scoop, but did not get any coverage for it in the national media, writes The Guardian.

However, several became aware that they were far from alone. Postmasters across the UK had called Fujitsu and received the same message: “You’re the only one with this problem.”

Slow winding

The Post Office promised an independent audit of the problem. At the same time, some parliamentarians began to take an interest in the matter. Over the next decade, the case was slowly unwound. Post Office CEO Paula Vennells had to answer questions from parliamentarians, the auditors found some errors, and a few more newspaper articles started to appear in the media.

Vennells was adamant that there was no possibility of Fujitsu entering the Horizon figures. It is a critically important argument for the postmasters, who believe they cannot have sole responsibility for financial losses if the figures can be influenced from outside. She now risks sanctions from parliament, as there are many indications that she did not tell the truth, writes Financial Times.

Lawsuits

In 2017, a total of 555 postmasters took legal action against the Post Office. They received compensation of 58 million pounds – close to 800 million kroner – of which only 12 million went to the postmasters. More importantly for them, the victory also gave them the right to have their criminal cases reopened.

In 2021, the government ordered an independent investigation, which is still ongoing. In March, the parliament began considering a proposal that acquits all the postmasters, which the government wants to get through before the summer, writes Reuters. And several state compensation schemes have been established.

– Pathetic

Action leader Bates, however, chose to reject a compensation offer of £600,000 in January, calling the offer “pitiful”.

– I don’t see any end to it, Bates said February.

The questions are many: Should Fujitsu be held responsible? What kind of consequences could this have for the post office’s finances? And what can actually be done to prevent this from happening again?

And that is precisely why there is no solution on the horizon in the Horizon scandal.