Publish Workplace campaigner Sir Alan Bates has threatened authorized motion if monetary redress for victims does not come quickly.
In a letter despatched to a whole lot of former sub postmasters final week, he referred to as for a March 2025 deadline for monetary redress for these caught up within the Publish Workplace scandal.
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Sir Alan Bates exhibits off his award exterior Windsor Fortress. Pic: PA
“They (financial redress schemes) can’t be allowed to drag on for years again,” he mentioned. “There’s no reason it’s just the bureaucracy driving them into the ground again.”
A whole bunch of sub-postmasters had been wrongly accused of stealing after defective Horizon pc software program threw up false shortfalls in branches between 1999 and 2015.
Sir Alan mentioned that he had not “heard a word” from the brand new authorities on the compensation schemes.
“There are potential legal avenues we can take but it’s going to then be another year, 18 months, for the group,” he added.
“If we can’t get these things resolved shortly, if we can’t get an affirmation from them of a March 2025 deadline, then we may as well follow other routes.
“And I do know we have the assist of the nation behind us, if we have to fundraise for a courtroom case we’ll.”
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Sir Alan attended the ceremony together with his spouse Suzanne. Pic: PA
He mentioned he and his spouse, now Girl Bates, had been accepting the honour “on behalf of the whole group and the suffering everyone’s gone through”.
He insisted that if the knighthood helps “take our battle forward” – then it’s “a real honour from that point of view.”
Whereas Girl Bates described her husband’s knighthood as “a reaffirmation of how amazing the journey has been for Alan and for myself”.
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Sir Alan Bates is married on Branson’s island
Former Publish Workplace boss Paula Vennells was stripped of her CBE earlier this yr after TV drama Mr Bates v The Publish Workplace drew widespread consideration to the scandal.
Seven months on and Sir Alan mentioned that his knighthood was for all of the Publish Workplace victims.
“We deserve it, unlike she (Paula Vennells) did – she drove the business into the ground into such disrepute,” he added.
“It needs major capital investment,” he mentioned, “There’s a wonderful, wonderful network of hard-working individuals running these post offices around the country but it needs fresh direction.”
He added: “I’ve said before it should be sold off for a pound to someone like Amazon, not actually Amazon, to someone who can take it on board.”
