After the release of Mr Bates vs The Post Office on ITV recently, a petition calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to lose her CBE over the Horizon scandal has gone viral.
It attracted more than one million signatures just after midnight on Monday (January 8).
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their shops.
Ms Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system.
More than one million people have signed a petition to strip former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells of her CBE.
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 8, 2024
Sir Bob Neill MP, chair of the Justice Select Committee, spoke to #BBCBreakfast about the Horizon IThttps://t.co/ai4eavbEWB pic.twitter.com/zb5UZB2o1A
The demands for the Honours Forfeiture Committee to remove her CBE have emerged once again after the scandal, which has been described as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.”
How to sign the Post Office scandal petition in the UK
The petition, which is addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the Forfeiture Committee, says: “Evidence has been produced that the Post Office engaged in a mass cover up which led to the wrongful prosecution of 550 Post Office Staff many of whom were subsequently jailed, bankrupted and in some cases, sadly took their own lives.
“Having been handed a CBE for services to the Post Office, and moved out into other senior positions in government and healthcare, it is only right that this award is now withdrawn through the process of forfeiture.”
You can view the Post Office scandal petition on the 38Degrees website here.
Hope people are tuning in to watch this. It’s an important one and everyone needs to see just how shocking and unbelievable it is. It’s gut wrenching and utterly heartbreaking what happened to these innocent people. Please watch and please share. #MrBatesVsThePostOffice pic.twitter.com/JarUuuvdrR
— Amy Nuttall (@amynutts) January 2, 2024
Recommended reading:
- Who is Paula Vennells? The ex-CEO of the Post Office amid Horizon scandal
- 50 new victims of Post Office scandal come forward following ITV series
Is the Post Office privatised?
The Post Office is wholly owned by the government and a public inquiry into Horizon is ongoing.
The government operates around 11,500 post offices across the UK, according to We Own It.
Royal Mail is owned by private shareholders, and runs the collection, sorting and delivery of post.
There has been fresh public backlash to the scandal after ITV aired Mr Bates vs The Post Office starring actor Toby Jones last week.
Reports suggest since the series was broadcast, 50 new potential victims have approached lawyers.
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