Alan Bates deserves honour

EXPRESSIONS of regret and belated apologies being wrung from past and present senior management of the Post Office hardly compensate for the financial and severe distress suffered for years by sub-postmasters and mistresses wrongly accused and, in some cases, convicted, of theft or false accounting.

Alan Bates, who fought with courage and admirable determination against the might of those mismanaging the Post Office and those who failed to act upon evidence of flaws in the Horizon software, has become a national hero figure. How will adequate compensation be calculated for the humiliation, financial hardship and distress for those to whom it is due, and for how long will it take for this to be fully awarded? It must also be asked if the cost of this will be fully, or partly, underwritten by taxpayers who were in no way responsible for this huge miscarriage of justice. It may be expected that there will be a lengthy dispute between Fujitsu and the Post Office to apportioning responsibility for the scandal.

Alan Bates surely qualifies for inclusion (however politically unlikely) in the next Honours list for his tireless pursuit for justice. As to whether he would be prepared to accept any such award, only he can say.

Credit too, must be given to those in ITV for commissioning and producing the documentary television programme which attracted such a wide audience and effectively drew attention to the years of campaigning by victims of the harsh injustice suffered by those directly affected and by members of their families.

Malcolm Allan, Bishopbriggs.