‘Alan Bates vs the Post Office’ contains hard lessons for the Church
by Tony Wilson, Premier:
The dramatisation of what has been called “the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice” should be a warning to the Church and Christians everywhere that truth is more important than reputation. We must fight for it at all costs.
Anyone who watched ITV’s Alan Bates vs the Post Office this week may have felt like throwing the remote control at the screen, such was the travesty of justice that unfolded in this excellently-told true story.
Based on events over the last 20 years, we witness the systematic undoing of hardworking sub-postmasters due to a fault in Horizon, the Post Office computing system, which created false negative cash balances.
Aware that books weren’t balancing, staff reached out to the Horizon helpline or the Post Office audit team only to be told that the loss of cash must be their fault. Demands for repayment followed, often for sums over £10,000. Isolated, and with no means to defend themselves, many sub-postmasters had to borrow money to repay the cash. Many lost their homes, health, families and businesses. Some attempted suicide. A few were sent to prison.
Alan Bates was one of those sub-postmasters. He avoided legal action, but lost his Post Office contract. As he became aware that his was not an isolated case, he set up a website and began contacting others who had been treated similarly. Eventually, they brought a group legal case against the Post Office. Despite victory in the courts, many sub-postmasters have still not been properly compensated. A public inquiry was eventually launched and remains ongoing.
Protect and defend
The Post Office reaction to the crisis is jaw-dropping. The board, led by Paula Vennells (a non-stipendiary minister, ordained in the Church of England) refused to entertain that the error was internal.
What led them to act with such cruelty and lack of self-reflection? It appears that an internal desire to protect the good name of the organisation, coupled with disbelief that their system could be faulty, lies at the heart of the issue. Decent people became collateral damage in the process.
The story is sadly familiar, and the Church is not exempt. Across all denominations, leaders have occasionally acted fraudulently with funds, emotionally manipulated their congregation or sexually abused those in their care. And the Church response has often been exactly like the Post Office: a desire to protect the institution and a disbelief that our leaders are no better, and sometimes worse, than the rest of us. How many bishops have sponsored a perfunctory investigation with the aim of minimising the reputational damage to their church rather than seeking the truth?
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
