Thought For The Day – Thursday 26^th September 2024

Yesterday, Sir Alan Bates received a knighthood for “Services to Justice” from Anne, The Princess Royal.   

Now Lady Suzanne Sercombe, married to Alan and a vital co-leader in their campaign, looks on in the picture above.

Such an honour was received behalf of others, mindful of a continuing campaign. 

Alan’s story was highlighted by “Mr. Bates Versus The Post Office”, an excellent ITV drama broadcast earlier this year

Alan Bates was born in the inspirational city of Liverpool.

He was a sub-postmaster, in charge of a branch of the post office, in the beautiful town of Llandudno in North Wales from 1998 to 2003.

Alan came to national and international attention when he founded a campaign for justice after more than 700 U.K. branch owner-operators (or sub-postmasters or sub-postmistresses) were wrongly prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting in what became known as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in U.K. legal history.

Many of those pursued were told to plead guilty to crimes or face jail.  They were forced to pay the Post Office money it claimed had gone missing. Many lost their jobs, homes and lifesavings. Some went to prison. Many were financially ruined. Some died then. Others have died since.

But these ordinary people had done nothing wrong. The problem was caused by a new computer accounting system the Post Office management had introduced called “Horizon”. Not for the first time in history, it took the very victims of injustice, over a very long period of time, to point out the very injustice they were suffering.   Alan Bates led and leads their campaign with a determined, fearless and persistent and forensic resilience.

The many everyday workers of the Post Office, including all at the wonderful branch in Bishop’s Stortford,  provide such an essential and a great, kind, outstanding professional service to so many in the community and society.  These post offices are an absolutely essential feature of the U.K.

But the “Post Office Scandal” is a reminder that massive errors and injustices can sometimes occur in society, and that nothing and no one in this life is perfect.

It is also a reminder of how seemingly ordinary people, and those suffering,  should be, and will be, heard.

We proceed with empathy, humility, kindness, listening, respect and truth, looking after others as well as ourselves.