Carol Vorderman backs petition for Post Office hero Alan Bates to get a CBE

Carol Vorderman has backed requires Alan Bates to be honoured with a minimum of a CBE for his position in exposing the Post Office scandal.

The TV star mentioned the “tenacious” campaigner who has spent many years for combating for justice must be recognised. She mentioned: “When I think of heroes I think of brave people who fight a Goliath for the good of all, and not themselves. Who are tenacious, who never give in.

“Alan Bates is all of these issues. He should not simply get a CBE. He must be within the House of Lords getting his enamel into different issues. In Alan Bates we belief.” Ms Vorderman is the presenter of the Pride of Britain Awards that recognised Alan Bates last year.

The Mirror has launched a petition demanding the former postmaster is honoured after ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells handed back her CBE. Ms Vennells said she had “listened” after over 1.2million people signed the 38 Degrees petition to strip her of the honour due to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of postal workers.

Sign our petition HERE to give Post Office hero Alan Bates a CBE

We consider Mr Bates, the ex-postmaster who led the decades-long combat to reveal the Horizon system scandal, now must be recognised with the identical honour himself – if not a knighthood.

He had beforehand turned down an OBE as he believed it could be a “slap in the face” to the victims to simply accept an honour whereas Ms Vennells nonetheless held her CBE. Usually honours are introduced to mark the New Year and the Monarch’s birthday, however in particular circumstances they will also be awarded at different occasions.

Tory former Cabinet minister David Jones mentioned: “Alan Bates has obviously done a huge amount to expose what was going on at the Post Office. I very much hope he will be nominated again and will get the OBE. Personally speaking, I think that if Ms Vennells had the CBE, I think that he would easily be worth that.”

Labour MP Kevan Jones, a member of the Horizon compensation advisory board, mentioned: “Alan Bates should definitely take up his OBE, but I think he deserves an honour much higher for all his efforts.”

The CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) is the very best honour (excluding a knighthood/damehood), adopted by the OBE after which MBE.

Alan has campaigned tirelessly for nearly 20 years to reveal the reality concerning the Post Office Scandal and get justice for subpostmasters whose lives it destroyed. He and his accomplice Suzanne Sercombe took over a store in Llandudno that included a put up workplace counter in 1998, investing £65,000 within the enterprise.

By the top of 2000, after the introduction of the Post Office’s new Horizon pc system, unexplained losses appeared in his accounts. In 2003, his contract was terminated. His cautious record-keeping proved he was not at fault, however the Post Office mentioned by then £1,200 was unaccounted for – a sum Alan mentioned was by no means there within the first place and had merely appeared because of a glitch within the system.

Alan’s willpower to get to the reality started nearly instantly. Setting up a web site to spotlight his issues, he additionally reached out to journalists to spotlight the case and made contact with different subpostmasters. He led a bunch of 555 postmasters in taking the Post Office to the High Court in a Group Litigation Order (GLO). In 2019, a choose dominated that the pc system contained “bugs, errors and defects”, and the Post Office agreed to settle with all of the claimants who joined the GLO.

Alan has turn into a nationwide treasure after tens of millions watched his lengthy and painful combat for justice portrayed within the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

Sign our petition HERE to present Post Office hero Alan Bates a CBE