maszyny: British Post Office scandal

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The British Post Office scandal, also called the Horizon IT scandal, involved the Post Office's pursuit of thousands of innocent subpostmasters for apparent financial shortfalls caused by faults in Horizon, an accounting software system developed by Fujitsu. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on faulty Horizon data, with about 700 of these prosecutions carried out by the Post Office. Other subpostmasters were prosecuted but not convicted, forced to cover illusory shortfalls caused by Horizon with their own money, or had their contracts terminated. The court cases, criminal convictions, imprisonments, loss…

Evidence: 70 • authority: 72

Paula Anne Vennells (born 21 February 1959) is a British former businesswoman who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. She is also an ordained Anglican priest who ceased her clerical duties in 2021. Vennells was the CEO of Post Office Limited during the latter part of the British Post Office scandal, in which more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongly convicted between 1999 and 2015 of theft, false accounting or fraud, owing to apparent shortfalls at their Post Office branches that were caused by flaws in Horizon, an accounting software used by the Post Office. Many more subpostmasters paid the Post Office for alleged shortfalls or had their contrac…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 88

Accountability sinks, accountability gaps and technological injustice: the case of the British Post Office/Horizon IT scandal. Purpose In complex systems, digitisation creates accountability sinks, whereby decision-making is delegated to computer systems so that humans are not responsible or in control. The accountability feedback loop is broken. Accountability sinks generate responsibility voids. These, in turn, lead to accountability gaps, creating technological injustice resulting in inequalities. This research develops a model of accountability for complex systems incorporating accountability sinks, responsibility voids and accountability gaps, highlighting the impact of digitisation th…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

Why the Post Office was able to bring private prosecutions in the Horizon IT scandal

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Josephine "Jo" Hamilton (born 1957) is a former subpostmaster and a campaigner for justice for victims of the British Post Office scandal. She ran a village post office in Hampshire from 2001 until 2006, when she was suspended and then wrongly prosecuted for shortfalls caused by the Post Office faulty accounting software, Horizon. She was convicted of false accounting, received a supervision order and had to pay the Post Office £36,000 although it was money she did not owe. Her treatment at the hands of the Post Office had a devastating impact on her health, family and finances. She went on to be a founding member of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and one of the 555 litigant…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Seema Misra is a former subpostmaster and a campaigner for justice for victims of the British Post Office scandal. She ran the post office in the village of West Byfleet in Surrey from 2005 until 2008, when she was suspended and then wrongly prosecuted for shortfalls caused by the Post Office faulty accounting software, Horizon. In 2010, after being convicted of theft and false accounting, she was sent to prison when she was eight weeks pregnant. She was one of the 555 litigants in the successful group legal action of Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd. Her criminal conviction was overturned in April 2021. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd was a UK group legal action taken by 555 subpostmasters against Post Office Limited, commonly known as the Post Office, the state-owned post office company. It was heard by Justice Fraser in the High Court between 2017 and 2019. Six judgments were handed down, two of them dealing with substantive matters while the rest dealt with procedural matters. The Common Issues trial examined the contract between the subpostmasters and the Post Office and found largely in favour of the claimants, while the Horizon Issues trial found that Horizon, the Post Office's accounting software, contained bugs, errors and defects that could cause shortfalls in the subpostmasters'…