Post Office victims champion Alan Bates has called for the Post Office to be sold to the likes of Amazon for a pound as he described it as “a dead duck”.
Appearing before MPs on the Business and Trade Committee, Mr Bates called for the Post Office to be removed from administering compensation schemes and said it would be “a money pit for the taxpayer for years to come”.
Despite the public outcry after ITV drama Mr Bates v The Post Office, and government action, compensation schemes have not become speedier or fairer, he said.
When asked if he was reassured that the government has a grip of the redress process, Mr Bates said no.
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“I’m afraid it’s very disappointing… I can’t see any end to it,” he said.
The best thing to bring about faster and fairer justice would be to remove the Post Office from schemes, he added.
“Take them out of the system,” he said. “Send someone in to do the job for them, get rid of our Post Office out of any of these schemes. That’s the best thing you can do.”
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Those dealing with claims do so from an “ivory tower”, he added.
“Those who are making the decisions about the actual claims, or what claims are going to be made, do not meet the victims face to face and discuss it with them.
“It’s all done from an ivory tower from somewhere else and ticking box and that’s it, there job is done and out of the way”.
Cultural problems within the organisation are persistent and will remain, Mr Bates said. “It’s been the same for donkey’s years. It will not change and you cannot change it.”
What would help, he said, is money coming out and a sped up process by getting rid of bureaucracy: “People are going to have to take other people’s words”.
Another sub-postmaster appearing before the committee, Tony Downey, shared his experience of not being believed in his compensation dealing. “I think for most of us, we’re not believed, it’s as though we’re making this up.”
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“They admit it on paper but when it comes to it, they’re not bothered,” Mr Downey said.
Despite doctors saying the stress of dealing with the Post office and the bankruptcy caused his breakdown, Mr Downey said the Post Office “chose to ignore all of that” and instead said he’d had family problems and referred to a letter from 12 years later which said he’d bipolar tendencies.
