Officials from the Postal Museum in London are working with a group of UK sub-postmasters on a project centred on the impact of the Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of self-employed managers of Post Office branches prosecuted on the basis of data from faulty software.
According to the BBC, more than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system. Many sub-postmasters went to prison for false accounting and theft while others were financially ruined. The scandal, which began in 1999 with the introduction of Horizon to post offices, began receiving renewed public attention following the 2024 ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The museum will work on a legacy project in partnership with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, which, led by the high court judge Wyn Williams, “gathered relevant evidence from affected persons” about “the failings which occurred with the Horizon IT system”. “The Legacy Project is a collaborative piece of work with input from a focus group of sub-postmasters to understand how to mark the Horizon scandal in history so that its effects are not forgotten,” says a statement.
Twelve sub-postmasters met with representatives from the Postal Museum earlier this week to discuss the project. “Over the course of four meetings, the group of current and former sub-postmasters or family members discussed what they wanted from the project. Many referenced a desire to work with The Postal Museum to create a lasting legacy for the scandal,” says a statement.
Laura Wright, the chief executive of the Postal Museum, adds: “As an independent museum created to share the history of the post in Britain, stories of postal workers have always been essential to us. It is crucial that those affected by the Horizon scandal can tell their stories, in their own words, and that we help them reach as wide an audience as possible.”
The Postal Museum is run by the Postal Heritage Trust and houses its own collection as well as the Royal Mail archive. Split over two locations in Clerkenwell, Wright says the museum’s five-century-long story focuses on “the lives of the people involved in the postal service, and how it changed the world—from Royal Mail ship workers armed to protect the mail from pirates, to the World War II salvage squad, tasked with rescuing mail from bomb sites to ensure nothing stopped the mail”.
