Show Notes
A wide-ranging interview with Mark Baker, a long-serving Postmaster and CWU union rep, who has just announced his retirement. Mark posted a note on the CWU Postmasters facebook page stating that the Post Office has rendered the Post Office counter side of his retail business "totally unviable" due to what he calls "their scandalous remuneration system". He goes on to say "we will not allow our retail business to be damaged by the Post Office leeching off the income we derive from our retail side. Neither of us enjoy working in the Post Office anymore and we both have held a mantra throughout our working lives that we will not work in a job we no longer enjoy. We do not see a future for the Network. The Post Office are not prepared to change their ways and the Government has no plan for the Network it owns, except a managed - or mis-managed - decline."
In this interview Mark explains why he thinks this is the case and opens up about his NFSP past during the Post Office's prosecution spree. He also explains how he came to understand Horizon was not a reliable system, his departure from the NFSP and his work for the CWU helping Subpostmasters under the Post Office cosh.
More from Investigating the Post Office Scandal
In which Nick interviews the former Post Office minister about his experience of taking office in the weeks after the Bates v Post Office settlement, overseeing the establishment of the Post Office Horizon Inquiry and the various compensation schemes.
In which Nick is joined by Mark Baker, former Postmaster and CWU rep, and Ron Warmington, forensic accountant, fraud investigator and Chairman of Second Sight, which conducted the first independent investigation of the Post Office's Horizon system.
Nick and Rebecca interview Noel Thomas and Aled Gwyn Jôb, who with Sian Thomas have co-written a book about Noel's experience of being prosecuted by the Post Office for theft and false accounting.
Rebecca and I were delighted to record an episode with Howe and Co partner David Enright, a lawyer who represents more than 100 Subpostmasters at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. This is a proper wide-ranging chat covering Sir Wyn Williams compensation report, the Post Office disclosure debacle, bonusgate, restorative justice, whether ALL Post Office prosecutions should be re-examined, how long the inquiry will last and what it's like to be working at the coal face of a process like this.
As both Nick and Rebecca were unable to attend the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry Compensation Hearing on 27 April, they thought it best to speak to some people who were. Sadly Rebecca was also unable to co-host the podcast so Nick brought in Professor Richard Moorhead from Exeter University (and member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board), Helen Lacey from Bath Publishing (and trustee of the Horizon Scandal Fund) and Robert Nicholson, Senior Editor at Whistledown Productions (and award-winning producer of the BBC's Great Post Office Trial series) to help talk around the issues raised.