Post office should be sold for £1, wronged postmaster Alan Bates tells MPs

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Alan Bates, the subpostmaster who’s the face of the Horizon sufferer’s marketing campaign for justice, instructed MPs that the Post Office is a “dead duck” and should be sold off to Amazon.

Giving proof to parliament’s enterprise and commerce choose committee, Mr Bates stated:

“My personal view about Post Office is it’s a dead duck and it has been for years, and it’s going to be a moneypit for the taxpayer in the years to come.

He added: “You should sell it to someone like Amazon for £1, get really good contracts for all the serving sub-postmasters and within a few years you’ll have one of the best networks around Britain.”

Mr Bates whose marketing campaign was dramatised within the tv collection Mr Bates vs The Post Office, by which he was performed by actor Toby Jones, added that he can not see an “end” to his compensation declare.

Mr Bates has led the cost for compensation following the Horizon IT scandal that noticed greater than 700 sub-postmasters handed prison convictions between 1999 and 2015 due to Fujitsu’s defective Horizon system.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters are nonetheless awaiting compensation regardless of the Government saying that those that have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.

Asked by committee chairman Labour MP Liam Byrne, whether or not he had seen enhancements within the means of paying out former sub-postmasters caught up within the Horizon scandal, Mr Bates stated: “As far as I know my claim is still sat there”.

Questioned on whether or not he believed the Government had received a grip of the redress course of, Mr Bates stated: “No, I’m afraid not – it’s very disappointing.

“This has been going on for years, as you well know, and I can’t see any end to it.”

Asked whether or not he believed the federal government had received compensation right for those that had already acquired a settlement within the 2019 court docket case, Mr Bates stated: “I don’t know what you can do other than remove the whole scheme from Government itself … and try and do it elsewhere.

“We keep coming back to this time after time after time – pay people.”

Carl Creswell, director of enterprise resilience on the Department of Business and Trade, stated ministers and senior civil servants wished to pay out cash quicker.

It got here after former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton claimed he had been instructed to delay payouts to subpostmasters affected by issues with the Horizon pc system.

It opened a row with Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who accused him of spreading “made-up anecdotes”.

Mr Creswell stated that his conversations with former division for enterprise, vitality and industrial technique (BEIS) everlasting secretary Sarah Munby had not been about slowing down payouts.

“You would have thought someone would have mentioned it to me if that was the intent. Not at all,” he stated.

“I worked very closely with Sarah Munby, she and I worked with Treasury to secure the funding needed for the schemes.”

He added: “Every conversation I had with her, with ministers, with other senior civil servants in other parts of Government, have all been about how we can pay out this money more quickly, so, no, that is completely incorrect, that assertion.”

Mr Staunton stepped down from the Post Office amid ongoing tensions final month.

The former WH Smith govt has since been concerned in a deepening row with Ms Badenoch after he claimed he had been instructed to delay payouts to the subpostmasters affected.

Ms Badenoch tolds MPs he had unfold “made-up anecdotes” following his dismissal.

However, ministers are beneath stress over allegations a senior civil servant instructed Mr Staunton to not deal with “long-term issues” and to guard his organisation’s funds.

Mr Staunton is alleged to have been instructed throughout a gathering with Sarah Munby to “hobble” into the following basic election, based on notes reported by The Times newspaper.

Ms Badenoch then referred to the dispute final Thursday, tweeting: “It’s important that people have trust in all we’re doing to get them justice.

“It’s frustrating dealing with false allegations that break that trust, but we won’t be distracted.

“The law is expected to come into effect by the end of July and apply to convictions in England & Wales.”