Court hears evidence in claim against Post Office

AFORMER subpostmaster suing the Post Office has told the High Court he believes he was dismissed from his job because he uncovered “errors” with the IT system.

Alan Bates ran the Craig-y-Don branch of the Post Office in Llandudno, from March 1998 to November 2003, when his contract was terminated.

He is one of six lead claimants in a group legal action involving more than 500 former subpostmasters who have made claims against the Post Office over the Horizon IT system, which it introduced between 1999 and 2000.

The claimants allege the system contained a large number of software defects which they say caused shortfalls in their accounts.

In a witness statement, Mr Bates said: “I have little doubt that the reason for my termination is that I had not only uncovered limitations and potential errors with the Horizon system, but that I continued to question Post Office on the contractual relationship between subpostmasters and Post Office.”

He described how he and his partner moved from West Yorkshire to Llandudno to take on the running of the post office. Mr Bates, who set up the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance in the wake of his appointment being terminated, said: “We were, in short, investing much if not all of what we had in this venture and it was a venture based upon a working relationship with Post Office.”

He said he had previously worked in the heritage and leisure sector and had experience of project management and electronic point of sale systems, which he said helped him understand “shortcomings” with Horizon.

Mr Bates said he never believed he would be held responsible for financial losses that were not his fault, as “this concept seems just so unjust that I did not consider it a possibility”.

He gave evidence yesterday, the second day of a hearing expected to be the first of at least three trials in a case where legal fees are already more than £10m.

Mr Justice Fraser is being asked to look at the contractual relationships between the Post Office and the subpostmasters. Lawyers for the claimants argue the relationship was so unfair and imbalanced that the contracts’ terms – including that subpostmasters were responsible for meeting any financial shortfalls – were not enforceable.

The other five lead claimants are Pamela Stubbs, Mohammad Sabir, Naushad Abdulla, Elizabeth Stockdale and Louise Dar, who all ran branches of the Post Office when the system was introduced. The claimants allege the Horizon system caused shortfalls in their financial accounts, which led to some being made bankrupt while others were prosecuted and even jailed for offences including false accounting, fraud and theft.

The trial is due to last five weeks.