Post Office scandal: 'It's been a nightmare'

Former Post Office workers have described the "nightmare" of their ongoing fight for justice after the Horizon scandal.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 people were prosecuted after faulty software made it look like money was missing.

Now, with the case was back in the spotlight following ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, one former sub-postmistress said she was still waiting for compensation four years after her conviction was quashed.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake described the scandal as "one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history" and said an independent panel would be set up to oversee any disputes relating to compensation for those whose convictions have been overturned.

Over six years the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters for false accounting, theft or fraud based on information from a faulty computer system.

Many maintained their innocence but some went to prison.

Fewer than 100 people have so far had their convictions quashed and only 30 of these have had full compensation payments.

A public inquiry is under way, but the scandal has received fresh attention in recent days.

Alison Hall, from Liversedge in West Yorkshire, was sub-postmistress at Hightown Post Office, near Huddersfield, but was suspended in 2010 after the accounting system showed a shortfall of £14,800.

She was threatened with prosecution for theft and ended up admitting a lesser charge of false accounting, for which she was given a criminal record and 120 hours of community service.

She also had to pay the missing sum, plus £1,000 in legal costs, out of her own money.

• Why were hundreds of sub-postmasters prosecuted?

Her prosecution was finally overturned four years ago and she has been granted an interim compensation payment of £100,000, but said she was still waiting for a full payment.

Describing her ordeal as "a nightmare" she said the attention garnered by the ITV drama was "absolutely amazing".

She called on the government to step in to "help us all finally get the compensation we all deserve".

She said: "It's been going on too long now and we just want it to end.

"Thirteen years is a long time to be going through something and it's always there in the back of your head."

She said those responsible for the scandal should be held accountable and joined those calling for the former Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells, to lose her CBE.

Wendy Martin, who ran a Post Office in York, said she had started seeing "problem after problem" with the accounting system from the day she took it over in 2015.

She said on one occasion, the system told her there was a £39,000 shortage that she was liable for.

She resorted to filming herself at work to prove what was happening.

She told BBC Look North: "I put every penny that I should have earned into the system to keep it afloat."

She said she "never slept a single night" during her tenure and ended up with "life-threatening" high blood pressure.

"I felt like I was dropping dead," she said.

Ms Martin decided to close the business after 20 months and was not prosecuted.

However, she said she had been left with business debts, which would take until 2056 to repay.

She said she had a "complete breakdown" and was unable to work for two years.

Ms Martin said she had only received an interim compensation payment so far and called for the compensation scheme to be removed from Post Office control.

The Post Office is wholly owned by the government.

Ministers met on Monday to consider ways of clearing the names of hundreds of sub-postmasters.

The prime minister said the government was reviewing its options.

A Post Office spokesperson has previously said it shares the "aims of the public inquiry to get to the truth of what went wrong in the past and establish accountability".

Ms Vennells has said previously that she remains "truly sorry for the suffering caused to wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters and their families" and would cooperate fully with the inquiry.

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