The letters tumbling on to the mat come from across the world – France, Australia, the US and many more – some just addressed to ‘Alan Bates, North Wales.’
‘They always seem to find me,’ says Alan Bates (now Sir Alan) with a smile. ‘I’ve kept some of the envelopes as it’s quite amusing.’
But then 70-year-old Bates is something of a worldwide name, much to his surprise.
It’s all courtesy of his David-versus-Goliath fight for justice for victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal – and the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office – that brought the story to the world, the first episode of which was broadcast a year ago, on New Year’s Day.
Against the expectations of the producers, who worried it would not stand up to more obviously bankable programmes, it became the biggest drama of the year.
It got 14 million viewers, provoked widespread outrage and made a hero of the unassuming but dogged ex-subpostmaster Bates.
And it’s been quite the year since: knighted by Princess Anne at a ceremony at Windsor Castle in September, he also married long-term partner Suzanne Sercombe on Sir Richard Branson‘s Necker Island. The Virgin tycoon even officiated.
Throughout it all there’s been the Post Office inquiry, which ended last week after nearly three years and 300 witnesses. It included the extraordinary spectacle of shamed ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells sobbing in the packed inquiry room.
Sir Alan Bates with his wife Suzanne after he was knighted at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in September
Sir Richard Branson officiates at their wedding on Necker Island, which took place a month before Alan’s knighthood ceremony
Alan and Suzanne, speaking exclusively to the Mail from their cottage in Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire, were not exactly moved by this.
‘We caught sight of a headline that said Vennells thinks the media were not fair to her. And I just thought “diddums”,’ says Suzanne, 69. ‘She always stuck to the same line – she didn’t know anything because she wasn’t told anything.’
‘It’s like saying, “I wasn’t in charge really”, isn’t it?’ says Bates, his eyebrows raised.
Make no mistake, while the couple have much to celebrate after this busy year, both are still feel a burning injustice, at the ‘corporate amnesia’ of post office mandarins and the marathon struggle for financial redress.
‘That’s still my number one role, and I will not settle until that happens,’ says Bates. ‘But the Government refuses to have deadlines, and they’ve changed the rules along the way. It’s disgusting and it’s continuing the injury. It’s also wasting a huge amount of money: there’s about £700million that has been spent on lawyers’ fees so far.’
‘I don’t think anyone realised it would take so long,’ adds Suzanne.
Clearly, the pair have an extraordinary stamina – particularly Suzanne, now by Alan’s side for 34 years.
A steadfast presence in his life, a role she admits has not always been easy – ‘you do feel a bit left out sometimes,’ she confides – their long-standing relationship took a unexpected turn when, in June, Alan was knighted.
He’d turned down an OBE earlier in the year, on principle.
‘Paula Vennells got her CBE for services to the Post Office,’ he says. ‘What service was that, other than ruin a national institution? It’s absolutely diabolical, so it would have been an insult to everyone involved. I couldn’t take it.’
In February, however, Vennells had her CBE stripped for ‘bringing the honours system into disrepute’. So in June, Alan felt able to accept a knighthood for services to justice in King Charles’ birthday honours.
‘It’s quite funny actually, as the day I got offered the knighthood was Paula Vennells’s first day at the tribunal,’ recalls Alan.
Toby Jones as Alan in ITV’s hit drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office – that brought the story to the world, the first episode of which was broadcast a year ago, on New Year’s Day
What the couple – more specifically Suzanne – hadn’t anticipated was that, despite being together for over three decades, the fact they were unmarried would come with its own issues when Alan was knighted.
‘I had been warned before that if it should happen, I wouldn’t be entitled to call myself Lady,’ Suzanne recalls. ‘I thought, ‘I’m just going to have to live with that’.
‘But it was actually quite difficult as it made things very awkward. Some people were a bit cruel about it, and kept pointing it out, which I thought was very unnecessary.
‘I began to have a bit of an uncomfortable time, and Alan picked up on that. So I think that’s what gave it a little bit of a kick as well.’
‘It’ being the surprise wedding, a month before the knighthood ceremony, on the Caribbean island of Necker – organised behind Suzanne’s back with Sir Richard Branson as officiant. The business magnate offered the couple a holiday there after reading they’d not had a proper break in decades.
Today, Bates has nothing but praise for Branson. ‘We spent quite a bit of time with Richard and he put us very much at ease,’ he says.
He was also able to give him a useful insight ahead of Bates’s big day at Windsor. ‘Because he’d been knighted, he knew the ropes and he said when you go, it’s a bit strange, because you don’t get offered a cup of tea or anything. And it’s true. It’s very in and out.’
Today, Suzanne confides she’s more than happy to be Lady Bates.
‘I think it’s very useful, you’re in an awkward situation, and you can exert or give a little impression of power,’ she says with a wry smile. ‘So yes. I’m very happy to use it.’
Titles aside though, the Bates’s priorities haven’t changed and they remain determined to fight for those whose lives have been ruined.
The backdrop to their battle barely needs retelling, so well cemented is it in the public mind as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in modern British history.
From the mid-1990s, the Post Office rolled out faulty software, Horizon, provided by the Japanese firm Fujitsu, which led them to wrongly conclude that hundreds of postmasters were stealing money.
Many were taken to court, convicted of fraud and imprisoned. Others took their own lives due to financial pressures and shame.
‘People have died since the fight began without clearing their names, says Bates. ‘There are people being backed into settlements because of age and illness. I know someone in their 80s who has been at this for 20 odd years, and they just accepted an offer as they cannot go on further.’
The shamed ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells. In February, she had her CBE stripped for ‘bringing the honours system into disrepute’
Despite the length of Alan and Suzanne’s battle, it wasn’t until last January that interest peaked when the ITV drama introduced millions of viewers to the injustice done to subpostmasters and mistresses
It says much that Bates thinks of himself as one of the ‘lucky’ ones –despite a fight that has consumed over two decades.
With Suzanne, then a special needs teacher, in May 1998 Alan Bates took over The Wool Post, a post office and haberdashery in Craig-y-Don, Llandudno, North Wales, investing £65,000.
Five years later – after repeated attempts to raise concerns over the accounting system – his contract was terminated and while he was not prosecuted, his £65,000 investment wasn’t returned.
Convinced corporate chicanery was at play, Bates sought out other subpostmasters in the same position and went on to found the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance, comprising 555 subpostmasters who went on to successfully take the Post Office to court.
It was a debilitating fight. While following two favourable judgments the group accepted a settlement of £57.75 million, the 555 claimants were left with little money after legal fees were paid.
So the fight went on. An independent inquiry was set up in September 2020, becoming a statutory inquiry six months later. This gave the chair powers to call witnesses – including Vennells and other senior figures who seemed unable to recall key decisions. The Metropolitan Police are now investigating whether criminality is involved.
‘If they hadn’t, we as a group would have been looking at going after private prosecutions. But it’s great that the Met are involved.
‘I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if custodial sentences come out of it,’ Bates says.
Despite the length of their battle – and support from the Mail and others – it wasn’t until last January that interest peaked when the ITV drama introduced millions of viewers to the injustice done to subpostmasters and mistresses.
‘I remember the producer saying that on the day it was aired there was lots of other stuff on – don’t expect too much. then it took everyone by surprise,’ Bates says.
Played by actor Toby Jones, Bates admits seeing himself brought to life on screen discombobulating. ‘There were a few odd things,’ he smiles. ‘In the drama, Toby used to go down to London in his windcheater and I think every time I went to London I was in a suit. Things like that.
‘But Toby did a great job, and it must have been awkward for him, because I have certain mannerisms, and I really do nag at people. He was a bit more laidback.’ Adds Suzanne: ‘The house they put us in in the drama is a beautiful house, but nothing like the one we actually live in. people were thinking, ‘What’s their problem? They live in a lovely house’.’
Four different compensation schemes are currently running to reflect the different experiences of the subpostmasters involved.
But while the Post Office has so far paid about £438 million to 3,100 claimants, many still have not been paid, while other families have been offered what Bates calls ‘arbitrary’ amounts.
The scheme he is involved in – the GLO or Group Litigation Order scheme to cover the 555 involved in the original lawsuit –has already had deadlines moved, and Bates has not received a penny, having turned down an offer for around a sixth of the amount he first claimed for.
With no end game in sight, he has resorted to writing to Sir Keir Starmer to expedite matters.
‘I wrote to the Prime Minister on two occasions recently to ask him to set deadlines to resolve the whole of this for the GLO group, but all I got back was standard civil service letters,’ he says. ‘I don’t know if he actually even read anything.
‘Someone asked me whether the change of Government had made any difference? And I said no, because the civil service is still the same, they’re the tail that’s wagging the dog.’
One fact remains: no amount of prosecutions or cash can buy back the years lost for those involved.
‘It doesn’t matter what money people get because they’ll never get back those 20 years of misery,’ Bates says. ‘All that this money is going to do is hopefully cushion people a little bit for what’s left of their lives.’
He plans to write a book. ‘It’ll be about the early years. That’s one of the things I get contacted about most – people with other fights on their hands asking how did we manage, what can we do?’
‘They tend to think Alan has the answer to everything,’ interjects Suzanne with a smile.
Not quite everything of course. But it’s clear that Sir Alan Bates could certainly teach many people a thing or two.