‘They Wanted to Drive Us Out of the Village’ Former Subpostmaster Vipin Patel | Good Morning Britain

[@SARA-h7x1k]

I saw this man being interviewed, it was heartbreaking. I hope he gets his compensation starting at one million plus. Not paid by the tax payers. People should be in prison, not getting bonuses..

[@pod9538]

Who's is going to pay it?? It will end up being the tax payers that is another sad part.😢😢

[@MadBiker-vj5qj]

There were plenty of local papers whipping up hatred against postmasters. The publishers should be made to print a full retraction of their poison-pen writings, and have it delivered to every household in their areas.

[@mustofagulam9059]

Agreed same should be done by the sun regarding Hillsborough

[@manichairdo9265]

​@@mustofagulam9059I see this vile mess as a type of the atrocity experienced by everyone who suffered in the Hillsborough disaster and the vile coverup.

[@HansCoche]

The middle & working class are always the people who suffer and have to pay for corporate/ government mistakes and incompetence.

[@christinephipps8236]

I watched the panarama program a few years ago and the reporter asked if these people had stolen money then were was it? there was never any trace of the money they were surposed to have stolen, this should have stated alarm bells ringing in my opinion.

[@jaxcoss5790]

His son is my work colleague. A really lovely bloke from a great family.

[@rebeccabsomanybooks3558]

Fujitsu, just write the check. Not difficult. Return the money you illegally stole from your employees.

[@johncodling9805]

From what I have seen these so communities are as bad as the Post Office, They should also be called out.

[@tonyhoban6600]

It seems strange that nobody is questioning too much how others reacted and made it such a tragedy . Local communities can be heartless and judgemental in a way that seems to be almost overlooked .

[@boldertash]

They wrongly pleaded guilty,, what are the villagers supposed to think,

[@jsmith3980]

now I shall research more about this case...but some villagers can be very nasty and petty as nothing else to do in them. Also , I'm saying it how it is, Mr Patel's race may have played a part in some of the hostility that he received . I live in an English village @@boldertash

[@key948]

Shame none of the mainstream news channels didnt bother to report on this matter when Andrew Bridgen exposed this scandal in 2015

[@philippepalmer2968]

you've got the wrong MP,it was James Arbuthnot who took up the case and brought it to the attention of parliament in 2015,Andrew Bridgen had nothing to do with it.This may be of interest to you,Simon Blagden, a Tory donor who currently chairs the government’s Building Digital UK agency, was described by Fujitsu UK in 2015 as a member of its leadership team who sat on its UK and Ireland responsible business board, as well as being chair of one of its subsidiaries, Fujitsu Telecommunications, from 2004 to 2019.Maybe he needs to be asked a few questions.

[@kennethbowry1521]

Always follow the money, millions does not evaporate into thin air it goes into offshore accounts.

[@HillbillyYEEHAA]

They can be taken £5 here £10 the and nobody would be none the wiser. My husband is a postmaster, a money goes missing from time to time and he is very thorough

[@bermudarailway2411]

How can they compensate the ones who comited suicide.

[@rickkarsan4491]

tax payer money will fix all

[@rickkarsan4491]

@@gv7217 money makes people forget. Its human nature.

[@diane4488]

They should pay compensation to their families.

[@flashback9966]

Seems to me 'Mr Bates vs the PostOffice', now that more details are emerging, was quite frankly a mild account of what actually happened.

[@jsmith3980]

It's so sad that this has happened to hard working everyday people. I hope those people in his village that judged him apologise to him [if he still lives there]. Big institutions need to have humility, apologise and recompense the families, particularly those who were sent to prison. Surely the King should meet the victims [its his face on the stamps] as a gesture of support. Fujitsu also needs to compensate the victims big time.

[@mrbruno1946]

You are fantastic, I admire you. You are so brave. I didn't realise how bad it was for you . God bless you for all you do. From one of your followers.

[@digicoindigitalassetsinves9524]

Fujitsu needs to pay all the cost not one cent should come out if taxpayers money it’s disgusting 🤢

[@grahvis]

One would have thought the sheer number of those suspected, about 6% are known cases, would have been a clue something was very wrong.

[@PumpTheRod]

....................LOL

[@nadiasawicki4108]

Amazing that their company lawyers did nothing. They would have overseen what was happening

[@redmed10]

Companies have more faith in systems than people.

[@Jivan-w3n]

Thank you for telling your story. Keep speaking it helps many other people

[@manichairdo9265]

I hope rightful compensation is awarded quickly for Vipin and everyone affected by this atrocious injustice and that Vipin and his dear family can now begin to fully recover and thrive. ❤❤❤

[@louisbarrowman9010]

The whole sickening affair makes a mockery of British democracy.

[@ppetal1]

That was 2019.

[@pod9538]

Well said brother 👏 👍

[@JohnSmith-qq6qy]

Look back at the last hundred years in the UK. Any progress made by workers has come at a cost. This is a new high in workplace abuse and who really knows the real suffering these hundreds of families have gone through over such a long period of time.

[@Talk4UK]

The stamps have gone up so much that we can no longer write a letter or a postcard. What is the point of having postal services if the citizens can't afford a stamp?

[@WindYaNeckIn]

This is the most attention this scandal has had and its only because of a TV drama. Where was the outrage from the media at the time? Where was the compensation plan from the government at the time? This has been known for a few years now yet only once the ppl with power see the outrage by the public over such a disgusting miscarriage of justice do they do anything that makes them look good. The fact its an election year is not lost on me and and I'm sure others too. This is a classic case of something terrible happening to the small people and only once it's really out in the public eye do the ppl with power react. And not because they care. They're doing it to look caring.

[@GlasPthalocyanine]

Reputation means *more* to working people than to corporate executives and politicians with connections. There's no justification for the Post Office refusing meetings with the ^little people^ they harmed.

[@patricklockerby4308]

Far too often it takes a preventable tragedy to trigger a change in the law to prevent further tragedy. Why must so many people suffer before our lawmakers will take action? The Post Office Horizon scandal has made the general public aware that many entirely innocent people can be convicted as criminals. Let us hope that reforms will be made to reduce the number of wrongful convictions; reduce the number of innocent people having their appeals rejected; reduce the number of rejected requests for review by the CCRC.

[@carolokbrblol]

Aww poor Mr Patel and family. God bless you mr Patel. How awful. I hope i never see anything like this again in my lifetime. Prayers to you and family Mr Patel.

[@mesp8574]

Dear Sir, I hope some villagers have or soon will find the guts to apologise to you. I am sorry that you have had to endure such injustice. Thanks for being strong, it will only be better from now on :)) I wish you and your family all the best. Sof

[@jensheekey5641]

This is beyond the pale 😡

[@O.O.O.K999]

I wondered why my nearby village shop and Post Office suddenly disappeared. The previous Post Master had had to give up because of ill health, but we got notice, this time it just ceased to be. Now I think I know why. Just over 20 years ago, I went through a legal case with my government employers and my experience then i.e. of lies and even falsified evidence and how their only interest was in breaking me further so I'd give up, should have meant I wasn't shocked by the ITVX 'Mr Bates v the Post Office' but, even knowing government departments couldn't care less about their staff, I was.

[@pooroldfred]

What price do you put on ruining a families lives? God bless.

[@pod9538]

I feel gutted for you all.. 😢😢

[@charlesflouvat1829]

Is it true that 4,500 postmasters have come forward to say that they have been putting their own money in without being prosecuted 🤔

[@richardhunter132]

I'm surprised that the government isn't getting more heat for this. It's true that a lot of this happened under the previous Labour administration (which is probably why Labour haven't made more of it), but the current government has had 14 years to sort it out and haven't. people are allowed to take the government to task when it's not for political gain

[@andyhurrell]

There are many questions I'd like to see plausible answers to. For example, why did the Horizon system seem to work for most post offices, but consistently failed less than 10%? Did all sub-postmasters have issues with the system, but the discrepancies were too small for either party to bother about? Given that Fujitsu technicians could access individual sub-postmaster's terminals, why weren't the known accounting errors corrected by Fujitsu? Were the Fujitsu technicians who were accessing the terminals covertly conspiring with the PO inspectors to take a share of the winnings? Given that the computer couldn't add up (which is a fairly damning inditement of a computer's fitness for purpose) did any terminals actually operate in favour of the sub-postmasters (ie did some sub-postmasters actually reap a benefit from the flakey computer number-crunching?) Who appointed the people running Fujitsu and the Post Office, and why?

[@puclopuclik4108]

you'll never know how many post office masters paid from their own pocket to cover the fake losses just to avoid investigations.

[@GlasPthalocyanine]

Logical questions. It's obvious that competence in IT skills is quantifiable, while management skills in large organisations isn't. An additional problem with large government contracts that are "gifted" based on connections, is the increasing involvement of people who have never been selected on merit. People who trained in IT in the 70s and 80s had a wider range of skills, from coding down to understanding computer architecture. There was a period of deskilling and comparmentalising of skills from the 90s onwards. More jobs were created in IT, which is great, but I can't help wondering how many more people were promoted out of their depth.

[@beewa8840]

They need to give this man back his £77k with interest; then they need to give compensation on top of that. He's right. This injustice is a really bad stain on the UK's global reputation.

[@ppetal1]

Get the money from the executives and their agents. Maybe a bit of jail time thrown in.

[@leslie5646]

There are insufficient words to describe the despicable way these decent people have been treated. 😢🙏

[@thomasw.glasgow7449]

after it went private the problems started an ah doubt it's gonny stop any time soon , aye !

[@juliennef1698]

It’s disgusting how hard working people have been treated 😩😩

[@spencerhulme1203]

I am so disgusted about this whole sittuation with the subpostmasters and the injustice taken place regardless of the inquires "none of those who commited fraud and perjury" are going to be held personally responsible. Unlike the subpostmasters who were persecuted and prosectued, lost their identity, reputation and credibiliy at the hands of those who put little value on human lives, but never that of their own,

[@andrewtongue7084]

When my Father was a young man (before he joined the Royal Navy), he worked for the Post Office. Back then of course, all accounting was conducted in a handwritten ledger - no computerised algorithms - simply employing the 'computer' between your ears; of course, occasional errors were made, but nothing close to the debacle that has emanated from using computerised technologies (that were glitched). Those responsible - both within the P O & Fujitsu should be paying over & above the quoted compensation remunerations, as well as prison time for their error in judgement; certainly, there may have been the odd Sub Postmaster who was bent, but wouldn't you consider that something didn't add up (sic) when several hundred Sub Postmasters were all indicted with identical charges ? This (unfortunately) demonstrates the level of incompetence (& indifference) to ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside-down by gross misconduct at the highest level.

[@edwinjones7307]

Shame shame shame. This is for the fools that say I haven't done anything. So I ve got nothing to worry about.. It is when you have done nothing that is when you should worry.

[@carolbrewster1907]

I wish the princess well and speedy recovery ❤️‍🩹

[@slowspoke6257]

What princess?

[@xinma6034]

Go out get out now

[@dan27music]

It is tragic how these unjust situations play out, and I think a similar thing may be happening with nurses like Lucy Letby.

[@thecultofjohnnydelr.soulsw7010]

Lucy Letby? 🤔 Please explain because there are not many nurses like her 😂

[@DeanoEssex]

HANG ON A MINUTE................... The villagers were not thinking you was a thief, they were being told you was a thief by the media and what everyone thought was a trustworthy company the "Post Office" Don't slate your village neighbours for thinking that because if they really think you are a thief they would still be calling you a thief. You are a victim but not because of the villagers!

[@fetchstixRHD]

Yeah, would not be surprised if many calling out those reacting would not also have similar reactions to allegations...

[@manichairdo9265]

The family were still vilfied by some....some - some. Mr Patal did mention others who supported them.

[@jibjobjobe]

The victims should be compensated via the Royal Mail pension fund!!!

[@GWills-ys6rd]

WHO'S NEXT - HMRC?

[@VanDamn-gf9zs]

The great distraction

[@BLUESKY-zt1nv]

Some accomplished formal parks into the frequent pleasure.The western queues the industrious contract.

[@richmorg8196]

What are you wearing

[@bumberClart1000]

ERG Out 🤘🇬🇧

[@spaliverpool71]

Yep, needs to be compensated proper with a free ride to Rwanda 🎉

[@alicemorel6779]

What is the strange thing around his body?? Curious

[@S.Mir786]

It’s for his back support!

[@davedoogan6650]

Shouldn't park in the disabled bay at the super market then

[@rafezetter8003]

Does Vipin look like he's reading from a script? Not saying he's wrong or anything and deserves compensation - but this interview did look a little "set up".

[@jaimz33]

So much for the village is a family eh. Whys he wearing a flak jacket

[@rickkarsan4491]

Its traditional Pakistani garb i believe.

[@MartinTeerly]

Uk is real home for scam. Amazing place. In 8 years i made 2.3 milion guit and still climing benefits. I don't understand how you can struggle in Britain