00:00Hi, welcome back to my channel, in this video, I will explain the ending of Mr. Bates vs.
00:04the Post Office, so, let's begin.
00:07Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office is a four-part British television drama series written by
00:11Gwyneth Hughes and directed by James Strong.
00:14The four-part series, which debuted on New Year's Day, focuses on Alan Bates, a sub-postmaster
00:19from Wales who, along with hundreds of other people, was wrongly accused of fraud by the
00:23post office.
00:25The drama tells the real-life stories of the sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses who
00:28were falsely accused of theft and false accounting thanks to a faulty IT system.
00:33Here is everything you need to know about the ending, just to let you know this video
00:36will contain spoilers.
00:38It all started when the sub-postmasters started noticing irregularities in the transactions
00:43that they fed into the system, Horizon.
00:45All of them were forced to quit their jobs and pay the money that was deemed to be lost.
00:50Even when investigations proved that they were not at fault, it was simply disregarded
00:54in favor of a clause in their contracts that they must pay any money lost, which they were
00:57in charge of.
00:59Alan Bates was one of the first postmasters who insisted on a trial, and he demanded that
01:03the post office prove that he had stolen the money.
01:06He was adamant that it was the system's fault, and finally, the post office had no choice
01:10but to silently terminate him.
01:13But Alan Bates was not done fighting.
01:16Over the years, he brought together many more like him who had suffered at the hands of
01:19the post office's pride and inability to own up to its mistakes.
01:23Some of them were Joe, Lee, and Pam, whose stories we got a better look at.
01:27There were many more who had not come forward due to fear of what the post office would
01:31do to destroy their lives further.
01:33Alan Bates' fight with the post office primarily involved him going head-to-head with Angela
01:37and Paula, the two women who were in complete control of the affairs of the institution.
01:42They promised their cooperation for an independent investigation, but over the years, they did
01:46everything in their power to hinder it.
01:48They would either not supply the required papers, pay off people, lie through their
01:52teeth, or simply go back on their promises.
01:55But Alan Bates turned out to be more stubborn than they were being wily.
01:59Eventually, they agreed to mediation, but after 18 months of it, they reached nowhere.
02:04Their lawyer, Bob, was also taken off the case due to undue pressure.
02:08Alan kept hitting dead-end after dead-end, but he pursued the case doggedly.
02:13How are the personal lives of the plaintiffs affected?
02:16Joe has lived a life scraping for money due to her unjust trial and dismissal.
02:20Lee's kids were bullied at school because of the idea that he was a thief.
02:25Buzz's wife went through a deep depression and dealt with suicidal thoughts.
02:29Her case was dismissed, but the newspapers did not cover the good news as they did the
02:33bad.
02:34One man even committed suicide because of the sheer injustice of the post office.
02:39The institution simply paid money to his grieving wife to keep her silent, which she was in
02:43no position to turn down, considering their circumstances.
02:47Around this time, Suzanne, Alan's wife, has to go through critical surgery.
02:51Though everything goes well, Alan wonders whether he should give up the fight, but she
02:55reminds him that it would mean a waste of her life along with his.
02:58At this point, they had already been fighting for 12 years.
03:02Do the victims get justice against the post office?
03:05James Hartley, a solicitor who mainly dealt with contract law, told Alan Bates that the
03:09contracts that they had all signed could be declared invalid.
03:13Also, if they could apply as a union of 500 people, they would have a shot at justice.
03:18Alan was a stubborn man, and at the end of the day, he managed to get 500 people, in
03:23fact, he brought together more than that.
03:25When they finally went to court, it was with very limited expectations.
03:29They all knew that their criminal rulings would not be quashed, and they may never see
03:33proper compensation or even a fraction of what they had to pay.
03:36But they all pursued it anyway.
03:39Once the case went to court, the post office found itself on thin ice.
03:43Unlike the mediation proceedings or any of the multiple negotiations, they could not
03:46deny evidence or lie in court.
03:49As the witnesses were brought to the stand, the prosecution found itself at a disadvantage
03:53because it had made the mistake of thinking of them as country simpletons who could be
03:56bullied.
03:58But their tactics were not working on these people, who had been fighting for more than
04:01two decades at this point.
04:03A whistleblower, Richard, even declared that the company had remote access to these accounts
04:07and that they constantly made changes to them, something that the sub-postmasters could never
04:11tell.
04:12When Angela was called to the stand, she ended up admitting indirectly that she was protecting
04:16the post office's reputation, even though it meant harming so many people.
04:20When the post office finds itself losing, they declare the judge unfit to hold trial
04:24as he was biased towards the victims.
04:27This is initially seen as a setback, but the lawyers tell Allen that this is a sign of
04:31their victory, which they just need to tolerate for a while longer.
04:34Eventually, the verdict is in the victim's favor, and the post office is ordered to pay
04:39the compensation.
04:40Yet this is not justice enough because, after paying the people who funded the defense,
04:45the victims are left with close to nothing.
04:47Many of them give up and are angry, but Allen and the others remind them that this is an
04:51expected outcome from the beginning.
04:53On the strength of this verdict, many of the criminal charges against the victims are dropped,
04:57and the case starts gaining nationwide attention.
05:00Paula's tenure as the CEO of the post office is over, and while she apologizes, she denies
05:05any responsibility in the entire matter.
05:08The bosses have yet to pay.
05:10Mr. Bates vs. the post office's ending revealed that Allen Bates is still fighting the ongoing
05:14war.
05:16Many people are yet to receive their compensation, and others are to be held accountable.
05:20Additionally, Allen says that the government is responsible for compensating them for the
05:24legal fees of the entire proceeding.
05:27The man will continue fighting till his last day, and we hope that he is successful because
05:31of his remarkable perseverance.
05:33That's all for now folks, I would appreciate it if you could give the video a super thanks
05:37with a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel so you can see more content like this every
05:40day, take care, bye!
Comments