A heartbreaking drama at a UK post office inspires chief executive's request to be stripped of his CBE award

The UK's Communications Workers Union (CWU) has issued a statement following the huge public reaction to the ITV drama. Bates v. Post OfficeWhich aired last week.

This four-part drama depicts the injustice suffered by hundreds of innocent British postmasters, who were found guilty of theft, fraud and false accounting by their Post Office employers when faulty software created accounting errors at post offices. . With many people imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, the disaster has been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

Alan Bates, who bears that title, is a postmaster who has campaigned for years to abolish the penalty. The play is played by actor Toby Jones.

In the days after the drama aired, thousands of British viewers demanded that former Postal chief executive Paula Fennells, the boss who oversaw the operation, be stripped of her central position.

Now CWU national officer Andy Fourie has echoed that sentiment:

“The CWU fully reiterates our demand that the government remove former CEO Paula Vennells from her position at the Central Bank of Egypt; This abdication of the postal service is an insult to all postmasters who were so abominably treated under his leadership.

He added: “Bates v. Post Office It was a deeply moving account of a horrific story described as the greatest miscarriage of justice Britain has ever seen.

“Alan Bates and the Justice Alliance for Subpostmasters deserve praise for their tireless efforts to expose the disgraceful actions of the Post Office.

“The emotional response from across the country was a vindication for Alan Bates and those fighting to overthrow the postal system, who joined forces to defend the Horizon system, even though it meant that postmasters were jailed for the crimes they had committed. elusive.

“This also serves as vindication for the CWU members at the Post Office, who have supported JFSA’s efforts in fighting this injustice for more than a decade.

“Unfortunately, this fight has been necessary because hundreds of postmasters have been let down and abandoned by the National Union of Postmasters, which has continually let them down through its blind and unconditional support of the Post Office.”