It should not have taken ITV’S Post Office drama to galvanise outrage
Sir – I can think of nothing in my 67 years that makes me more ashamed to be British than the scandalous behaviour of the Post Office in the Horizon fiasco (Letters, January 8).
What makes me most ashamed is that it has taken a television dramatisation, ITV’S Mr Bates vs The Post Office, to spur our self-satisfied and self-protecting establishment into taking action.
Nigel Cowan
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Sir – I have criticised countries such as Russia, which prosecutes and imprisons innocent citizens on trumped-up charges. Now I learn that I live in a country that behaves in a similar manner. It is unbelievable that the head of the organisation involved received an honour. No one from the Post Office or Fujitsu has been properly held to account. Thank goodness for people like Alan Bates.
Margaret Clark
Preston, Lancashire
Sir – Politicians have taken a long time to find their moral compass on the Horizon scandal. Then there are the infected blood, Windrush and Grenfell Tower scandals.
What has happened to common sense and decency? Col Douglas G Bryant FRCS (retd)
Northallerton, North Yorkshire
Sir – Although the scale of the Post Office scandal is unusual, such occurrences are sadly not that uncommon in large organisations, public and private.
A while ago, I became a foster carer for a county council some distance from my home. When the placement ended, I was subjected to a number of accusations. This was because I had dared to highlight shortcomings on the part of several staff members. Fortunately I had the time and resources to refute the allegations.
I once spent some time with an American executive who had worked on the PR for a major chemical company. He told me that when there was a serious complaint about spillages and pollution, the first step was not to help the communities involved but to discredit the complainants. He regretted some of these actions for the rest of his life.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you.
Mark Robbins
Bruton, Somerset
Sir – The catastrophic failures of the Post Office, which have ruined lives, illustrate a fatal flaw in human nature: the impulse to close ranks.
We see this within families, friendship groups and organisations both small and large. In the face of a challenge, people seek to protect their own. We can’t change human nature, but we can put in place robust systems that enable complaints to be taken seriously and acted upon. Such systems were clearly missing in the Post Office.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor, Berkshire