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    • The important thing to know is that MET - although they will send you threat after threat about how they will divert a drone from Ukraine and make it fall on your home - hardly ever do court. Even in the very small number of cases where they send court papers, if the Cagger defends, they drop the matter before the hearing.  They have no real intention of putting their rubbish claim before a judge.  The aim is to find motorists who are terrified of the idea of going to court and who will give in when the court papers arrive. Thanks for doing the sticky and well done on finding F18's thread.  Do what they did.  On the first page - I think post 19 - there is the address of the CEO of BP.  Write to them, lay it on thick about being genuine customers in the various premises, mention the small kids, the very short stay time, attach any proof of purchase - and request that they get the invoice cancelled.
    • Thank you for that, I have obviously already been convicted so I think the appeal lodged is for the previous offence? Sorry if that doesn’t make sense. I suppose my only concern is that weds I go there and they don’t let a stat dec happen. If they do then as you say and solicitor says it’s highly likely I’ll be happy with the outcome. But I’m being told there’s no guarantee for the stat dec to be hard Weds as that’s not what the hearing is proposed for. Solicitor has stated that you can put a stat dec before a magistrates at any time so it shouldn’t be a problem.   
    • I re-read the extract from your  solicitor's letter this morning and think I might understand what they have in mind. I believe (and it’s only a guess) their strategy is this: 1.    You will make your SD 2.    You will enter fresh pleas to the four charges (not guilty) but will offer to plead guilty to speeding on the understanding that the FtP charges are dropped. 3.    If this is accepted they will attempt to argue that the two offences were committed “on the same occasion” 4.    You will be sentenced for those two offences (the sentence depending on whether the “same occasion” argument succeeds). They also have a plan in the event that your offer at (2) is unsuccessful and you are convicted again of the 2xFtP charges (and so face disqualification under “totting up”): 5.    They will make an “exceptional hardship” argument to avoid a ban. 6.    If that is unsuccessful they have already lodged an appeal in the Crown Court against that decision. (This is the only “appeal” I can think of). 7.    They plan to ask the court to suspend your ban pending that appeal. If I’m correct, I’m surprised the Crown Court has agreed to accept a speculative appeal (against something that hasn’t happened). The solicitor says this is to lodge it within the normal timescales. But you will have 21 days from the date of your conviction (which will be next Wednesday) to lodge an appeal with the Crown Court, so there is no need for a speculative appeal. I have to say that an application to have your ban suspended pending an appeal is unlikely to succeed. The Magistrates Court is unlikely to agree to it for one very good reason: if they make such an order (suspending your ban until your appeal is heard), all you need to do is not to pursue the appeal and the Magistrates order suspending your ban will remain in place. Hey Presto! No ban and no need for you to trouble with an appeal. Perhaps he will ask for your ban to be suspended for (say) three months or until your appeal is heard (whichever occurs first). This potentially creates a problem because if your appeal is not heard in that time either your ban will kick in or you will have o go back to court to get the suspension extended. But the solicitor obviously knows more about these things than I do. I would want to be very clear about this solicitor’s fees and what he proposes to charge you for. As I said, there is absolutely no need to lodge an appeal with the Crown Court. That can be done if and when it becomes required. But I am still firmly of the opinion that it is overwhelmingly likely that you will not need to progress beyond point 2 above. Point 3 is optional and I don’t know whether he solicitor has made It clear to you that the only thing you will avoid in the event of success is three penalty points. You will still be fined for the second offence and your driving record will still be endorsed with the details, but no penalty points will be imposed. Do let us know how it goes.  
    • I'm really trying, but worst case I can't find what are my options?
    • John Lewis' Privacy Notice states that their CCTV Systems does not use facial recognition or collect biometric data - so I assume it should be fine?    Thank you a lot for your reply. I've scheduled my first therapy session ne t week. Really the time to turn my life around..
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The sub-postmasters scandal


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Seems that speaks for itself - and not (at least properly) addressed issues that were highlighted by others/audits

The Tory Legacy

Record high: Taxes, Immigration, Excrement in waterways, energy company/crony profits

Crumbling: Hospitals, Schools, council services, businesses and roads

If only the Govt had thrown a protective ring around care homes

with the same gusto they do around their crooked MPs

 

 “Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”

Farage, Feb 2024 talking smack about the Peninsula town

.. before he decided he wanted their votes

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  • honeybee13 changed the title to The sub-postmasters scandal

"

What sort of bugs resulted?

As early as 2001, McDonnell’s team had found “hundreds” of bugs. A full list has never been produced, but successive vindications of post office operators have revealed the sort of problems that arose. One, named the “Dalmellington Bug”, after the village in Scotland where a post office operator first fell prey to it, would see the screen freeze as the user was attempting to confirm receipt of cash. Each time the user pressed “enter” on the frozen screen, it would silently update the record. In Dalmellington, that bug created a £24,000 discrepancy, which the Post Office tried to hold the post office operator responsible for.

Another bug, called the Callendar Square bug – again named after the first branch found to have been affected by it – created duplicate transactions due to an error in the database underpinning the system: despite being clear duplicates, the post office operator was again held responsible for the errors."

 

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

From bugs to unqualified staff, the Post Office’s point-of-sale system was inadequate on many levels

 

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The Tory Legacy

Record high: Taxes, Immigration, Excrement in waterways, energy company/crony profits

Crumbling: Hospitals, Schools, council services, businesses and roads

If only the Govt had thrown a protective ring around care homes

with the same gusto they do around their crooked MPs

 

 “Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”

Farage, Feb 2024 talking smack about the Peninsula town

.. before he decided he wanted their votes

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"Stephen Bradshaw, a Post Office employee involved in the criminal investigation of nine people, will appear on Thursday. He had been due to give evidence in November, but his appearance was postponed after the late disclosure of relevant documents by the Post Office. A number of similar postponements held up proceedings last year, despite the Post Office spending £24.4m on disclosure in 18 months."

- Stephen Bradshaw was evidently a PO investigator involved in the prosecutions

 

WWW.LAWGAZETTE.CO.UK

Inquiry will resume this week with evidence from Post Office investigator.

 

and we've already recently in these threads referred the changes in 'professional requirements/liability' this is bit on about (re crony mone/PPEMedpro lawyers i think)

"speaking over the weekend to Times Radio, Hartley said that while lawyers for the Post Office involved in prosecutions over the years might not face criminal prosecutions, they could be subject to regulatory action. He suggested future investigations should assess the ‘culpability and accountability’ of lawyers under professional conduct rules."

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The Tory Legacy

Record high: Taxes, Immigration, Excrement in waterways, energy company/crony profits

Crumbling: Hospitals, Schools, council services, businesses and roads

If only the Govt had thrown a protective ring around care homes

with the same gusto they do around their crooked MPs

 

 “Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”

Farage, Feb 2024 talking smack about the Peninsula town

.. before he decided he wanted their votes

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This is well worth a read. Includes detail that UK news services .. haven't

 

WWW.COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM

Computer Weekly has investigated the Post Office Horizon scandal since 2008 and is, in fact, part of the story. This guide covers essential...

 

The Tory Legacy

Record high: Taxes, Immigration, Excrement in waterways, energy company/crony profits

Crumbling: Hospitals, Schools, council services, businesses and roads

If only the Govt had thrown a protective ring around care homes

with the same gusto they do around their crooked MPs

 

 “Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”

Farage, Feb 2024 talking smack about the Peninsula town

.. before he decided he wanted their votes

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clear your cookies and local storage for site and it should allow you 1.

I used to subscribe but that was many many years ago on an entirely different computer

The Tory Legacy

Record high: Taxes, Immigration, Excrement in waterways, energy company/crony profits

Crumbling: Hospitals, Schools, council services, businesses and roads

If only the Govt had thrown a protective ring around care homes

with the same gusto they do around their crooked MPs

 

 “Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”

Farage, Feb 2024 talking smack about the Peninsula town

.. before he decided he wanted their votes

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or from these links?

DUCKDUCKGO.COM

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

 

Edited by tobyjugg2

The Tory Legacy

Record high: Taxes, Immigration, Excrement in waterways, energy company/crony profits

Crumbling: Hospitals, Schools, council services, businesses and roads

If only the Govt had thrown a protective ring around care homes

with the same gusto they do around their crooked MPs

 

 “Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”

Farage, Feb 2024 talking smack about the Peninsula town

.. before he decided he wanted their votes

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I see the press has tracked down Gareth Jenkins who has refused to comment. He is the architect of the Horizon computer system. He'll easily be the most significant witness when he finally shows up at the inquiry. He's currently under criminal investigation for perjury in numerous prosecutions and has twice unsuccessfully asked Wyn Williams for criminal immunity when it comes to giving his evidence. He has a defence barrister permanently stationed at the inquiry.

 In 2013 PO commissioned legal advice from an external senior barrister Simon Clarke KC on Jenkins' role as Fujitsu's expert witness in support of PO prosecutions. He concluded that, in colloquial terms, Jenkins had been lying to the courts through his teeth in saying that Horizon was robust when he knew it wasn't and PO should stop using him in cases and that past convictions might be unsafe. As the barrister concludes, this information and advice itself should have been disclosed in all past, current and concluded cases but PO sat on it until it was obtained and disclosed by the sub postmasters legal team in the GLO in 2019. 

Read the advice, especially the conclusions on the last two pages. 

This is, in a nutshell, what went wrong.

136028107_1_redacted.pdf (postofficescandal.uk)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Good spot, CJ. Thank you.

Paula Vennells is being defended by the bishop of St Albans. He seems to have misunderstood the fundamental difference between Mr Bates vs the Post Office and The Crown.

WWW.LBC.CO.UK

Paula Vennells should not be judged on the TV dramatisation of the Horizon scandal as it's 'a bit like The Crown', her church has said.

 

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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SPMs who took part in the pilot scheme are said to have been prosecuted.

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

Exclusive: software believed to have resulted in prosecutions even before full system rollout in 1999

 

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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Here's Gareth Jenkins that @cjcregg referred to earlier today, in the Times. Also Anne Chambers and the Met investigation into both of them.

An investigation involving colleagues Gareth Jenkins, 71, and Anne Chambers, 66, was opened after a judge said that defects and bugs in the system that they knew about were “kept secret”.

https://archive.is/o4dFR

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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Yes Ann Chambers has already appeared at the inquiry but Gareth Jenkins had his 4 day session postponed (twice I think) due PO late disclosure and this is after Wyn Williams refused Jenkins to appeal to the Attorney General for criminal immunity.

WWW.POSTOFFICEHORIZONINQUIRY.ORG.UK

Chair responds to request to review previous refusal 24 October 2023

 

 

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Some of the press are focussing on Fujitsu/Horizon today.

Adam Crozier has distance himself from Horizon, saying he had nothing to do with it when he was head of Royal Mail, although he was there from 2003 to 2010. POCL wasn't split off until 2012. Hmm.

I hadn't realised that Michael Keegan, husband of the current education minister, was CEO of Fujitsu between 2014 and 2018.

 

 

 

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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So it's just £75k for the GLO 555. Utterly staggering.

Another issue that's unresolved is the question of compensation payments to bankrupted sub postmasters going to their estates.

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So it's £75k full stop?? I'd be fuming too.

Ministers only seem to look at the overall cost and not think about what it means to the individual.

I can see another petition coming on about the compensation.

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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It's £75k full stop but those who think they should get more 'can apply to have their case looked at' - which will just be more lengthy bureaucracy. He reckons only a third of the 555 will want more!

Obviously Alan Bates is one of the 555.

 

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Thank you. I fear they still think of postmasters as the little people who'll be bought off easily.

This isn't the petition I was thinking of but there are some new ones saying Alan Bates should get a knighthood. I do hope they've asked him if he wants one.

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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