Mike Lucraft responds to an article about Adam Crozier, who was in charge of Royal Mail when subpostmasters were accused of theft because of a faulty IT system
So, Adam Crozier, the new chair of BT, “spent two decades steering businesses out of corporate crisis” (Can Adam Crozier help connect BT to a bright future?, 17 August)? Really? From 2003 until 2010, when he was chief executive of Royal Mail (which then owned the Post Office), he oversaw the hounding of subpostmasters who were accused of theft and fraud because of the seriously flawed Fujitsu Horizon IT system that they were obliged to use. Under his watch, people were bankrupted and ostracised as prosecutions were pursued against them.
This scandal has been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in English legal history (UK government sets aside up to £233m to cover Post Office payouts, 25 July). Only in the past year or so has there been any correction of the shocking wrong done to those subpostmasters. Nobody in charge at the Post Office or Fujitsu has ever been brought to book. And as for compensation, will it be the Post Office or Fujitsu or any of those who were in charge paying? No. It will be the taxpayer. So, Adam Crozier did not steer the Post Office out of any corporate crisis. He steered it headlong into one.
Mike Lucraft
Saltdean, East Sussex
