Is the war won already?

One day in to the trial and in my opinion the JFSA have already won the war on behalf of all subpostmasters, past, present and future.  True, that by some almighty miracle, POL may win the battle in the courtroom, but already it is clear that the damage to their reputation that they were so keen to avoid, is now confirmed and in the public domain.

So many mistakes in their defence argument appeared yesterday because of only one reason; they entrusted a set of legal professionals to win the case while not understanding that legal professionals will use every avenue they can to do just that – win.  In doing so, POL’s legal team are concentrating on what is before them and not the consequences outside the courtroom of what they put to the Judge.

Long after this case is settled the Post Office network will continue.  What subpostmasters now will have to do is reflect on whether or not they want to be part of it given the statements that were made yesterday and no doubt more will be made today and as the trial progresses.

I don’t know who decided on the sequence of the trials that are taking place but to argue the contract first and the issues surrounding Horizon second has made it considerably harder for POL to make their case.   Whatever is said in court now is evidence to be used in subsequent trials and yesterday POL’s team should have considered that before starting to speak.

To quote from the FT’s report on yesterday’s developments:
“Mr Cavender said the sub-postmasters were seeking to “undo a commercial bargain and strike a better deal”. He added that while the sub-postmasters were self-employed, they were trying to turn “what is expressly a principal-agent, business-to-business relationship, into some kind of quasi-employment relationship”. If sub-postmasters were not fully responsible towards the company, “then that would be a real threat to the way the Post Office does business at the moment”, said Mr Cavender.”

A threat to the way the Post Office does business at the moment?  Maybe Mr Cavender doesn’t know how Post Office Ltd does business with their subpostmasters at the moment because the majority of subpostmasters don’t like the way Post Office does business with them and change in that relationship is long overdue.   Mr Cavender would do well to remember that that relationship is about to be exposed in court including whether or not subpostmasters should be held fully and financially responsible for losses incurred by errors in Horizon.   I am led to believe that Mr Cavender allegedly admitted on behalf of POL yesterday that even though it is not written into the contract specifically (how could it seeing the contract was the same before and after the introduction of Horizon) that subpostmasters could NOT be held responsible for losses resulting from errors in Horizon.   That Mr Cavender is certainly not ‘fully responsible’ and therefore seemingly a ‘real threat’ to the way the Post Office does business at the moment.  Perhaps someone could ask Mr Cavender to expand on his term ‘real threat’ and whatever that implies?

Today and the following days will no doubt examine how on earth Subpostmasters could possibly determine whether or not Horizon was to blame for the errors that resulted in their financial losses.  I am really looking forward to hearing Mr Cavender argue that point.

In my opinion the war is won on behalf of all subpostmasters already, however the battle in the courtroom is about the dignity and reputation of those subpostmasters who have suffered the most.  I am confident they will win but with knowledge of at least one of the cases of mistreated subpostmasters I know just how the law can sometimes be its own worst enemy and allow injustice to prevail.

PS Not sure if Ms Vennells will be particularly happy to hear that as of a few moments ago I have provided the local post office with several thousand pounds of my own money in order to keep them open for business … (they came and asked me)