Post Office applies to appeal damning judgment in first Horizon trial
Summary
The Post Office has made an application to appeal the judgment of a High Court judge in the first trial in the group litigation brought against it by subpostmasters. The plight of some subpostmasters, which run Post Office branches, was first reported in 2009, when Computer Weekly revealed that the lives of some of them had been turned upside-down after being fined, sacked, made bankrupt or even imprisoned because of unexplained accounting shortfalls. Judge Fraser, who is managing the case, also found there was a culture of secrecy and confidentiality generally in the Post Office, but particularly around the Horizon accounting and retail system subpostmasters use to run the branches. “There can be no excuse, in my judgment, for an entity such as the Post Office to mis-state, in such clearly expressed terms, in letters that threaten legal action, the extent of the contractual obligation upon a [subpostmaster] for losses,” he said in the ruling. It is oppressive behaviour.” In response to the Post Office appeal, Alan Bates, lead claimant and leader of the Justice for Subpostmasters’ Alliance “JFSA), said: “It’s hardly surprising that Post Office treats the judiciary this way, we’ve all seen how it treats subpostmasters.” On 23 May, there will be a hearing with arguments from both sides about the application to appeal the judgment in the first trial.