If any postmaster gets one of these, please do not engage with this person! We at VOTP will happily help anyone submit an HSS claim absolutely free of charge.
#PostOfficeScandal#PostOfficeInquiry
Highly recommended Opinion piece from @MarinaHyde as ever. 'Innocent Postmasters went to jail, but now it is clear: the Post Office boss class belong there instead'. 📩🔻📩
https://t.co/LUZZW51lg4
Sir Wyn Williams has announced that he intends to publish Volume 1 of his final report this summer, examining compensation and human impact.
Find out more:
https://t.co/CaWIk7DBYB
#PostOfficeInquiry
#PostOfficeScandal#PostOfficeInquiry#HumanRights#Justice
A seminal piece of academic work from the 'Evidence Based Justice Lab' (@exeterebjl) detailing multi-faceted human impacts on anonymised survivors of this shocking State Sponsored Crime.
The Paper covers:
• stigma and reputational damage,
• financial impacts,
• impacts on relations,
• the psychological, emotional, and physical impacts,
• altered futures, and
• suicidal ideation, survivor guilt and support.
As well as documenting adversity and sacrifice, we also report SPM stories of determination, hope, and the building of solidarities with the SPM community.
A selection of harrowing quotes:
“I don’t like the person I am now. It’s impacted us financially, socially. I don’t go out anymore. I cut off all my friends because, as I say, some of them didn’t want to know me.… I think it’s just too much. Who wants a friend that 10, 20 years later is still harping on about The Post Office? There’s a limit. I’m sick of it, so they’ve got to be sick of it. So I just cut them off.”
“A friend said one time, ‘are you looking forward to Christmas?’, and I just started crying. Every Christmas has been ruined for me since then. The first Christmas, I was hospitalised when I was suspended. The following two Christmases, on Christmas Day, I had an absolute massive meltdown in the house. So now, I hate
Christmas. I hate birthdays… It breaks me.”
“I had to move away from the area because…the first morning after I was suspended and I walked down the street to get my newspaper, a gentleman that used to come in for his pension, he looked at me and he didn’t even answer, I said, ‘good morning,’ and he spat at me, straight in my face and he said, ‘We’re going to lose my post office,’ with a mouth full of other obscene words,
‘because of you.’ I thought, Jesus, is this what I’m getting, so I had no choice then.”
“I couldn’t afford to pay for my child’s school uniform, I couldn’t do anything with them anymore, apart from give my time… I was living hand to mouth and suffering with depression, trying to keep it together for my child. Honestly, it’s hard to describe just how awful it’s been.”
“I hadn’t heard that sound since I was tape-recorded interviewed [by the Post Office ] and my body literally threw me across this concrete path. Scraped all the side of my face. Because it heard this noise and thought, ‘it’s happened again.’ It literally, I just went blank… My brain had heard that sound and quicker than I could think about it, my brain had already removed me from the
situation, literally thrown me across the road, it was bizarre as hell. Things like that keep happening, which isn’t nice.”
"One thing I realise may possibly never be fixed is that I now cannot do any kind of accounts, government websites, or any kind of form-filling…Any kind of form filling or accounts etc. simply makes me clam up in some kind of panic attack, and look to do anything else rather than to do that which needs doing, even if that just means staring at a wall and crying… all things
which I never had a problem with before they did this to me.”
And on, and on, and on, and on...
Full Report here 👇https://t.co/ibE8UhO2Kr
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@Keir_Starmer@RachelReevesMP@darrenpjones@jreynoldsMP@gareththomasMP@liambyrnemp@exeterebjl@BBCEmmaSimpson@andyverity@TomWitherow@CastletonLee @FloraClairePage @edwardhenry1@ElCShaikh@VarchasPatel@Janetsk20073533@TjX50@tonydowney67@HarvardLawProf@mariaspears@chrish9070@chiarasimon@CommonsBTC@biztradegovuk@UniofExeter@ExeterLawSchool@ucl@Harvard
NEW: Majority of serving Subpostmasters still getting unexplained Horizon accounting discrepancies, feel the Post Office board doesn't understand their concerns and the contract they are working under is "unfair".
https://t.co/kTZvM4clSO
@WandFCouncil please can you provide information on this closure, road also closed yesterday with absolutely no information or warning. No signs provided stating businesses open as usual or whether Stock Lane Car Park can be used. Not good optics.
#Lakesconnection It appears the road through Grasmere is still closed as the signs are still up. The 555 and 599 services will be unable to serve the stops at Grasmere school. Buses will turn at Easdale and will serve the Grasmere centre Northbound stop near Red Telephone Box.
Saw Grasmere PO closure and others in the area were mentioned in parliament yesterday. Facts matter. We closed due to years of shortfalls as a consequence of the #postofficescandal which resulted in paying PO thousands due to a fatally flawed Horizon system that has ruined lives.
Post Office Ltd claim they are “taking determined action to address the past …for victims of the Horizon Shortfall Scandal”. The latest data (31/07/24) clearly shows Post Office aren’t really determined at all. #PostOfficeScandal#postofficeinquiry
Can we reunite this wee teddy bear with its owner. Lost in Grasmere today 20/08/2024 and teddy is now patiently waiting at @GrasmereWeavers for its owner #Grasmere#whiteteddy
Have you been invited to share your experiences of the Post Office or Horizon Shortfall Scheme?
The survey deadline has been extended to 15 August to give more people time to share their experiences.
Have you completed yours? 📅 #PostOfficeInquiry
https://t.co/RtBYdoyeTo
It's another BfS giveaway time! To win a copy of @SirBenfro's latest novel, For Our Sins, follow, like & retweet!
In the meantime, head over to BfS to read about how he keeps his writing fresh 13 books in!
https://t.co/alIn2cK79J
⚠️ A592 KIRKSTONE PASS CLOSED ⛔️ DUE TO LANDSLIP ⚠️
An assessment will take place tomorrow to identify the cause and if works are required before the road can be reopened.
Please respect the closure in place and use an alternative route for your own safety.
@runalongwomble Good evening Womble from a wet and windy Lake District! I’m reading #FairyTale by @StephenKing and it’s just brilliant! 274 pages in and I already feel like I’ve been through the wringer emotionally.
Absolutely bonkers that young people in Coniston/Hawkshead area can’t easily access Kendal College. First @StagecoachCNL leaves Coniston at 9.30 arriving in Kendal at 10.44. More joined up thinking is needed. Maybe one for @timfarron to look into?
Royal Mail don’t like letters do they? 1st Class stamps to be increased to £1.25 from 1st October and other price changes are also due. As a post office worker, please don’t rant at us over the increases, we hear you and don’t understand it either 🤷♀️
Huge thanks to @CumbriaFire, the @WandFCouncil Lake Wardens and the @LakesRangers for their rapid response to this fire on Windermere. Everywhere is tinder dry, and the damage caused by an accidental fire may take decades to recover. Please - light no fires.