Mr Bates Versus The Post Office

In one of the most shameful scandals in the history of Information
Technology, the British Post Office deployed a bug-ridden system
called “Horizon” for the use of its sub-postmasters (post office
branch managers) to report their accounts. Then, when it started
producing completely false results, often with discrepancies amounting
to thousands of pounds, and those sub-postmasters tried complaining
and seeking corrections, it insisted there were no such flaws in the
system, telling each one of those complaining that there had been no
other complaints, and demanded those branch managers, as per their
contracts, must make up the discrepancies out of their own pockets.

This miserable saga continued from 1999 to 2015. Over this time, many
of those sub-postmasters were driven to ruin. Some were prosecuted and
jailed, their stories simply disbelieved. Some even committed suicide.

ITV broadcast a four-part docudrama
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27867155/> about the scandal back in
January, and it has just made its way to us in NZ. If it comes to your
town or country, it’s worth a watch.

The Register has done a number of articles as the story has come to
light, as far back as 2019
<https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/15/post_office_horizon_it_system_initial_judgment/>,
right up to this year
<https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/17/post_office_inquiry_latest/>,
<https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/01/fujitsu_finance_chief_apologises_horizon_inquiry/>.