Readers have high praise for subpostmaster Alan Bates, after gaining insights into the real-life scandal that rocked the post office in ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. What did you think about the series?
One shares their experience of having their bank account frozen using the same system that resulted in numerous Post Office employees facing wrongful accusations of theft and fraud.
Read on to see what readers think about this issue, among others
'If only more people had the integrity of Mr Bates.'
How good was it to hear that Alan Bates, from the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance, had refused an OBE (Metro.co.uk, Mon) because a certain person had held on to her own honour?
The 68-year-old exposed the miscarriage of justice that saw hundreds of his colleagues wrongly accused of theft and fraud because of the faulty Horizon accounting software.
His campaign was depicted in ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, starring Toby Jones.
He turned down the OBE because Post Office boss Paula Vennells, who presided over the scandal, still has her CBE.
If only more people had Mr Bates’s integrity – especially those cowards in government. Ian, Glasgow
‘The computer terminal locked up and account overdrawn’
I’m wondering how many Post Office customers were landed with overdrawn accounts like we were.
We used the Post Office to obtain holiday currency one Saturday morning. During the transaction, the computer terminal locked up. It was using the Horizon system.
After a restart or whatever needed to happen, I joked about the amount not coming out of our bank account twice. But, yes, it had, even though we didn’t realise it at the time.
The next morning, my wife used the telephone banking service to pay a bill and we learned our account was, in effect, frozen because it was overdrawn.
The effect of this on our family was prolonged. The effects on the Post Office staff falsely accused of theft cannot be imagined. The arrogance of the high-level Post Office staff beggars belief. They must be held accountable. Michael Foster, via email
Ian (MetroTalk, Thu) asks why no one has been prosecuted over the Horizon scandal. Prosecutions are almost sure to follow the Public Inquiry that is under way. It’s a scandal as bad as the Windrush scandal, the contaminated blood scandal and the Grenfell cladding scandal. Heads should roll. Scott, West London
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How will our NHS fare in 2024?
What an ending to 2023 and start to 2024. My hubby, who is in an ‘at risk’ category, developed a severe cough on Christmas Day.
We tried all the usual remedies for three days but to no avail, so tried the GP – but there were no appointments for two weeks.
We were told to see the pharmacist, who said the GP ought to have emergency appointments and that we should try the GP’s online system.
We went home and tried but the system was down and my husband got worse and developed a high fever.
We waited 24 hours for the system to come back but it didn’t so we rang 111.
A lovely lady took our details and said we needed a prescription and that we would get a call back from an on-call doctor within two hours.
Three hours later, at 7pm, we got a text saying we wouldn’t get a call until the early hours. By this time I was frazzled. What use was a call in the early hours? I wouldn’t be able to go and get a prescription from anywhere in the early hours. At 7am I went and queued outside our GP surgery until it opened.
My husband is now being treated for a chest infection and I’m hoping he soon shows signs of improvement.
Several of my family, my husband included, are NHS staff. They simply cannot cope anymore. A&E is pushed to the limit by many drink/drug-related ‘patients’ and appointment no-shows.
Mental health units are dumping grounds for those the police cannot deal with.
People need to take responsibility for their actions and GPs must take up the slack. So distressing. What the hell is happening with our NHS? Mrs C, Leeds
‘Hey, my kids ARE young – just tall’
In response to the Underground Worker (MetroTalk, Thu), who says parents are trying to get child fares for their children when they are obviously too old. My ten-year-old is 5ft 8in and my 12-year-old is 6ft. They had their childhood stained by people saying they weren’t ‘behaving their age’ as people weren’t expecting them to be so young. Dana Hamilton, via email
Great to see the Metro paper back after the Christmas break. It will take a few days to get back into the swing of knowing the answers to the crossword! Sara, Cheltenham
I clapped because I cared
I am disgusted by the picture of the striking junior doctor with the placard
‘clapping doesn’t pay my bills’ (Metro, Thu).
I understand their frustration but to make a mockery of all the good people who (like me) stood religiously on our doorsteps to applaud their courageous devotion to duty during the Covid crisis, fills me with deep sadness.
I believe they deserve a decent wage, but we do not deserve such a dissing of our good intentions. Susan, Oldham
MORE : Man, 24, turned away by NHS dies of cancer after not paying for £65 private test
MORE : ‘I’m the real Mr Bates – my battle against the Post Office isn’t over yet’
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