- Christopher Head watched on-line petition for justice ‘explode’ after present aired
One of the previous postmasters pushed out of enterprise by the Post Office Horizon scandal has informed how their marketing campaign has acquired a rare wave of public help following the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Christopher Head – previously the UK’s youngest postmaster – watched a web-based petition he arrange calling for justice ‘explode’ from round 15,000 signatures earlier than the present aired to virtually 300,000 lower than every week later.
‘It’s been unbelievable,’ Mr Head, 36, from West Boldon, Tyneside, informed MailOnline.
‘Now it appears to be like as if the postmasters goes to be turn into an election difficulty.
‘It’s very gratifying that we have loved this explosion of help, however on the similar time, it makes you marvel what all of the politicians have been pondering again in 2019 once we first received our landmark judgement towards the Post Office.’
Christopher Head watched a web-based petition he arrange calling for justice ‘explode’ from round 15,000 signatures earlier than the present aired to virtually 300,000 lower than every week later
Mr Head was simply 18 in 2006 when he took over the newsagents and sub-post workplace at West Boldon, helped by a mortgage from his father. He labored onerous over years increase enterprise and opening lengthy hours to cater for locals who ran their very own on-line companies and relied on the Post Office
In 2019, Mr Head and greater than 550 different postmasters, led by unassuming Alan Bates, memorably performed by Toby Jones within the four-part ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, received their historic authorized motion within the High Court
Mr Head’s petition states: ‘We at the moment are calling on this authorities to supply ALL victims of this scandal with the FULL and FAIR compensation they’re entitled to.
‘This includes guaranteeing that every one these affected are returned to the place they might have been in had they not encountered the Horizon scandal and compensated for the ache, trauma and struggling they’ve gone by means of together with their households.’
Mr Head was simply 18 in 2006 when he took over the newsagents and sub-post workplace at West Boldon, helped by a mortgage from his father.
He labored onerous over years increase enterprise and opening lengthy hours to cater for locals who ran their very own on-line companies and relied on the Post Office.
Although like many postmasters, he discovered frequent unexplained shortfalls occurring beneath the flawed Horizon laptop system which the Post Office purchased from IT big Fujitsu, at first the quantities have been sufficiently small for him to cowl from his personal pocket.
But in 2014 the system developed severe issues, needing to be consistently rebooted, typically as much as 12 occasions a day, and he was informed it wanted to get replaced as a result of it had ‘corrupt knowledge’.
When the brand new laptop system was put in, Mr Head was shocked to find that Horizon was now exhibiting a £40,000 shortfall, which rapidly doubled to £80,000.
‘Whatever I stated to the Post Office, the inventory reply was that I used to be accountable, so I needed to pay again the cash – even once I identified that we by no means had anyplace close to that amount of money out there within the system.’
He was suspended in 2015 and a felony investigation launched, which was later dropped. Then the Post Office launched a High Court motion to get well the cash, which he stated ‘hung over my head for greater than 4 years till they dropped it in 2019.’
Mr Head was previously the UK’s youngest postmaster. He has claimed a ‘seven-figure sum’ for the last decade of misplaced enterprise and the hurt to his popularity, however was lately provided solely 12 per cent of the quantity, which he has rejected
Mr Head sporting a shirt to boost consciousness of the scandal. He stated he want to see not solely former Post Office officers corresponding to Paula Vennells held accountable for his or her motion, but additionally a correct investigation into, amongst others, figures corresponding to Michael Keegan, former chief government officer of Fujitsu from 2015 to 2018
Mr Head’s journey to Downing Street with MP Kate Osborne in 2020. Mr Head stated: ‘I do not know whether or not Michael Keegan or different Fujitsu former executives shall be known as to provide proof on the public inquiry, however there are such a lot of inquiries to reply’
A scene from Mr Bates vs the Post Office. The sequence follows the true story of a whole bunch of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted for theft by the Post Office on account of a defective IT system
During these years, Mr Head stated his popularity in the local people was trashed as folks would speak behind his again and he discovered it tough to get jobs as there was a query mark over his honesty, so he needed to accept low-paid or non permanent work.
In 2019, Mr Head and greater than 550 different postmasters, led by unassuming Alan Bates, memorably performed by Toby Jones within the four-part ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, received their historic authorized motion within the High Court.
But since then the compensation course of has been sluggish and so has the felony justice system in clearing these postmasters who have been convicted of fraud and theft.
In Mr Head’s case, he has claimed a ‘seven-figure sum’ for the last decade of misplaced enterprise and the hurt to his popularity, however was lately provided solely 12 per cent of the quantity, which he has rejected.
Mr Head stated he want to see not solely former Post Office officers corresponding to Paula Vennells held accountable for his or her motion, but additionally a correct investigation into, amongst others, figures corresponding to Michael Keegan, former chief government officer of Fujitsu from 2015 to 2018.
He is now a Crown consultant on the Cabinet Office coping with defence suppliers on behalf of taxpayers. He can be married to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, MP.
Mr Keegan maintains that in his time as CEO he solely made one determination on Horizon, which was to cancel a young to supply a brand new model of it to the Post Office.
Mr Head stated: ‘I do not know whether or not Michael Keegan or different Fujitsu former executives shall be known as to provide proof on the public inquiry, however there are such a lot of inquiries to reply.’