Former subpostmaster ‘needs vindication' as he takes legal action
A former subpostmaster said he 'needs vindication' as he started a legal action against the Post Office and Fujitsu over the Horizon IT scandal.
Lee Castleton, who is the first individual to sue the two organisations in the wake of the controversy, told BBC Breakfast: 'To be honest, I'm tired of people telling me what to do and what not to do.
'I think it's about time we were listened to.'
He is seeking to have a civil action taken against him by the Post Office overturned or set aside.
Mr Castleton was sued by the Post Office for £25,000 it said was missing from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, in 2007.
His two-year legal fight saw him declared bankrupt following legal costs of £321,000.
He said he had little faith in compensation schemes set up by the Post Office for wrongfully-convicted subpostmasters.
According to the BBC, he instructed his solicitors to launch High Court proceedings against the Post Office and Fujitsu on Tuesday.
Mr Castleton, who was made OBE for services to justice in the New Year Honours, told BBC Breakfast: 'The schemes aren't fit for purpose, but for me personally I need vindication.
'I need to right the wrongs of the past for me personally as well as help the group.
'You've got to do what you feel is right.'
Asked about how his name has never been fully cleared, he said: 'The matter of the court in 2007 is still there.
'It still stands against me and I'd like not only to get rid of that, to overturn that, but I'd like it done in the correct way.'
'I feel to go through the compensation side of things right now without having set aside the original judgment would be the wrong thing to do,' he added.
'If you look at the claim schemes, every single point you make within your claim is then litigated without a judge.
'So every single point is asked for, with proof, and argued and denied by the other side.
'You go through this traumatic two, three, four years in some cases to get to the end of that compensation journey.
'I would like to have a judge in the middle of that for me.
'So that when I present my case, and they present their case, it's not their say-so of what is right and wrong, it's a formal, independent practitioner.'
His lawyer Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton, said: 'Mr Castleton's case is correcting the wrongs that have been done.
'What Mr Castleton is claiming is for the judgment to be set aside, because we argue it was obtained on the grounds of fraud, and compensation for the wrongs done to him.'
A Post Office spokesperson previously said: 'We recognise that many victims of the Horizon IT Scandal continue to be impacted by their experience.
'Post Office today is committed to doing all we can to help those affected get closure.
'We cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings but once we receive the claim, we will engage fully in the process.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Finextra
3 hours ago
- Finextra
The AI Risk Equation: Delay vs Safety – Calculating the True Cost: By Erica Andersen
In the race to adopt artificial intelligence, too many enterprises are flooring the brakes while neglecting the accelerator. As the saying goes, "AI may not be coming for your job, but a company using AI is coming for your company." The pressure to integrate AI solutions is becoming intense, and organizations that have missed early adoption windows are increasingly turning to external vendors for quick fixes. The longer enterprises wait, the faster and riskier it becomes when they are forced to adopt AI. By delaying, they have to learn fast how to do it with no experience under their belt. This article explores the significant risks of unchecked AI deployment and offers guidance for navigating the challenges. When AI Tools Go Rogue Remember the UK Post Office Horizon scandal? A conventional software system led to hundreds of innocent people being prosecuted, some imprisoned, and lives utterly destroyed. That was just normal software. The AI tools your organization might be preparing to unleash represent an entirely different beast. AI is like an adolescent—moody, unpredictable, and occasionally dangerous. Consider Air Canada's chatbot debacle: it confidently provided customers with incorrect bereavement policy information, and the courts ruled that Air Canada had to honor what their digital representative had erroneously promised. While in this case one might argue the chatbot was more humane than the company's actual policies, the financial implications were significant. The critical question is: will your AI tool be trusted to behave and do its job, or will it go on a rampage and wreck your business? Learning how to deploy AI with robust oversight is a critical skill organizations must master for successful AI deployments, and not to play Russian roulette. Companies starting now, are getting a significant edge in learning how to control this critical technology. The Zillow Cautionary Tale Zillow's failed foray into real estate flipping highlights the dangers of AI relying solely on past data. The algorithm, confident in its predictions, failed to account for rapidly changing market conditions, such as a drop in demand or nearby property issues—it could take months for Zillow's algorithm to recognize the impact on valuation. Meanwhile, savvy sellers capitalized on this, unloading properties to Zillow before Zillow detected the prices plummeting, costing the company 10% of its workforce. The problem? Zillow's AI was backward-looking, trained on historical data, and unable to adapt to dynamic environments. This same issue plagues stock-picking algorithms and other systems. that perform beautifully on historical data but collapse when faced with new market conditions. If your AI is making decisions based solely on past data without accounting for environmental changes, you're setting yourself up for a Zillow-style catastrophe . To mitigate this risk, ensure your AI's training data represents current and anticipated future conditions. Consider the risks carefully! This is particularly crucial for financial systems, where tail risks are more frequent than models predict. Medical applications, like analyzing skin conditions, are much less susceptible to changing environments, as long as the AI is trained on a representative sample of the population. Startup Corner-Cutting: From Unicorns to Bankruptcy Your vendor might be cutting corners. While they may not be another Theranos, the risk is real. Take the UK tech unicorn that recently collapsed into bankruptcy amid financial reporting discrepancies. It has now emerged that was a fraud, and people using the service are left with orphaned applications. Startups face intense pressure to deliver results, which can lead to critical oversights with inconvenient truths often getting swept under the rug. One common pitfall is bias in training data. When your system makes judgments about people, inherent biases can lead to discriminatory outcomes, and can even perpetuate and amplify discriminatory outcomes. Even tech giants aren't immune. Amazon attempted to build an AI resume screening tool to identify top talent by analyzing their current workforce's resumes. The problem? AWS, their massive cloud division, was predominantly male, so the AI learned to favor male candidates. Even after purging overtly gender-identifying information, the system still detected subtle language patterns more common in men's resumes and continued its bias. If you're using AI to determine whether someone qualifies for financing, how can you be sure the system isn't perpetuating existing biases? My advice, before deploying AI that makes decisions about people, carefully evaluate the data and the potential for bias. Consider implementing bias detection and mitigation techniques. Better yet, start now with an internal trial to see the problems that bias in the data might cause. Those organizations getting hands on experience right now, will be well ahead of their peers who have not started. The Hallucination Problem Then there are "hallucinations" in generative AI—a polite term for making things up, which is exactly what's happening. Just ask Elon Musk, whose chatbot Grok fabricated a story about NBA star Klay Thompson throwing bricks through windows in Sacramento. Sacramento might be bland, but it did not drive Klay to throw bricks through his neighbor's windows. Such fabrications are potentially damaging to reputations, including your company's. How can you prevent similar embarrassments? Keep humans in the decision loop—at minimum, you'll have someone to blame when things go wrong. It wasn't the AI you purchased from "Piranha AI backed by Shady VC" that approved those questionable loans; it was Johnny from accounting who signed off on them. A practical approach is designing your AI to show its work. When the system generates outputs by writing code to extract database information, this transparency, or "explainable AI", approach allows you to verify the results and logic used to arrive at them. There are other techniques that can reduce or eliminate the effect of hallucinations, but you need to get some hands-on experience to understand when they occur, what they say, and what risk this exposes your organization to. The Economic and Societal Costs of AI Failures The costs of AI security and compliance failures extend far beyond immediate losses: Direct Financial Costs: AI security breaches can lead to significant financial losses through theft, ransom payments, and operational disruption. The average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million in 2023, with AI-enhanced attacks potentially driving this figure higher. Regulatory Penalties: Non-compliant AI systems increasingly face steep regulatory penalties. Under GDPR, companies can be fined up to 4% of annual global revenue. Reputational Damage: When AI systems make discriminatory decisions or privacy violations occur, the reputational damage can far exceed direct financial losses and persist for years. Market Confidence Erosion: Systematic AI failures across an industry can erode market confidence, potentially triggering investment pullbacks and valuation corrections. Societal Trust Decline: Each high-profile AI failure diminishes public trust in technology and institutions, making future innovation adoption more difficult. The Path Forward As you enter this dangerous world, you face a difficult reality: do you delay implementing AI, and then have to scramble to catch up, or are you more cautious and start working on AI projects now. The reality is that your competitors are likely adopting AI, and you must as well in the not-so-distant future. Some late starters will implement laughably ridiculous systems that cripple their operations. Don't assume that purchasing from established vendors guarantees protection—many products assume you will manage the risks. Trying to run a major AI project with no experience is like trying to drive a car with no training. Close calls are the best you can hope for. The winners will be companies that carefully select the best AI systems while implementing robust safeguards. Don't assume established vendors are immune to the risks. Consider the following steps: Prioritize Human Oversight: Implement robust human review processes for AI outputs. Implement robust human review processes for AI outputs. Focus on Data Quality: Ensure your training data is accurate, representative, and accounts for potential biases. Ensure your training data is accurate, representative, and accounts for potential biases. Demand Explainability: Choose AI systems that provide transparency into their decision-making processes. Choose AI systems that provide transparency into their decision-making processes. Establish Ethical Guidelines: Develop clear ethical guidelines for AI development and deployment. Alternatively, an AI consultancy can provide guidance. However, vet them carefully or you might end up with another problem rather than a solution. Develop clear ethical guidelines for AI development and deployment. Alternatively, an AI consultancy can provide guidance. However, vet them carefully or you might end up with another problem rather than a solution. Apply Proper Security and Compliance Measures: This isn't just good ethics—it's good business. In the race to AI adoption, remember: it's better to arrive safely than to crash spectacularly before reaching the finish line. Those who have already started their AI journey are learning valuable lessons about what works and what doesn't. The longer you wait, the more risky your position becomes. For everyone else, all you can hope for is more empty chambers in your Russian roulette revolver. Written by Oliver King-Smith, CEO of smartR AI.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Chester-le-Street's post office temporarily saved from closure
A high street post office, which is one of only a handful to feature the cypher of Edward VIII, has been temporarily saved from Front Street branch in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, was among 115 to be put at risk as part of a business restructure. The Post Office has now confirmed the branch will be taken over by franchisee Richard Fleetwood who already runs sites in Newcastle, Hebburn and Washington. It said the branch would continue to operate on the same site until "long-term arrangements" were finalised. North Durham Labour MP Luke Akehurst said he had been told any move to a new location was unlikely to happen before spring 2026 and this would be subject to a local public previously said the building, which dates back to 1936, holds "historical significance" due to its links with the king who was never crowned and who abdicated later that year to marry Wallis shake-up of the Post Office's branch network was revealed by the company's chairman Nigel Railton in government-owned business has 11,500 branches across the most sites are franchises, 108 of them are currently owned directly by the was feared some branches would be permanently shut but in April the firm announced the sites would be taken over by franchisees subject to government funding. Other Crown Post Offices being taken over by Mr Fleetwood in north-east England include branches in South Shields and Sunderland.
Edinburgh Reporter
a day ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Brand Scotland – UK Government signs agreement with Scottish Chambers of Commerce
A Brand Scotland overseas trade missions initiative was signed on Friday by the Scotland Office and Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) in a partnership agreement. This collaboration will be supported by UK Government funding of up to £100,000 for 2025/26 which will help to promote Scottish trade and is aimed at attracting foreign direct investment into Scotland. Brand Scotland is part of the UK Government's Plan for Change boosting economic growth by promoting Scottish products and services while attracting international inward investment. The initiative will include a series of trade missions all designed to showcase Scottish businesses across the globe. Ian Murray and Liz Cameron signed the agreement at the UK Government's Queen Elizabeth HQ in Edinburgh. Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: 'This agreement will help give Scotland a global platform to sell everything our brilliant country has to offer – from whisky and seafood to our world class services. 'The trio of trade deals secured by the Prime Minister in recent weeks is a huge opportunity for Scotland's economy – with the most populous country in the world, the richest country in the world and our most important market. This partnership with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce will create valuable opportunities for Scottish firms and help kickstart economic growth as part of our Plan for Change. 'I have already been to Norway, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States to bang the drum for Scotland and with this partnership we will take businesses to even more markets. The Scotland Office will be Scotland's window to the world.' Scottish Chambers of Commerce Chief Executive and Director Dr Liz Cameron, CBE, said: 'Delivering impactful trade missions that will sell Brand Scotland and our innovative and dynamic businesses will strengthen our global presence. This partnership with the Scotland Office is vital for economic growth and will help more businesses trade internationally and encourage more inward investment. 'The world wants our quality products and services and this significant investment in Brand Scotland will create even more opportunities to sell our nation internationally. Our businesses continue to successfully engage with SCC overseas missions and now by combining forces between SCC and the Scotland Office, we can drive our economy further by providing valuable platforms and alliances for more exporters to sell their fantastic products and services to new global markets. 'Scotland is open for business and we welcome Brand Scotland's support to allow us to trade with confidence on a world stage.' Leading entrepreneurs from a variety of sectors have also welcomed the agreement. Founder & CEO of Greenock-based PG Paper Dr Poonam Gupta, OBE, said: 'At PG Paper, international trade is the backbone of our business. We have built a multi-million pound business by connecting with over 60 countries. This partnership between the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Scotland Office sends a clear message: Scotland is ambitious, outward-looking, and ready to lead. The Scotland Office initiative will help businesses like ours expand our international reach, forge high-value connections, and drive economic impact both at home and abroad. This is exactly the kind of bold, collaborative action Scotland needs to accelerate exports and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.' CEO of Aberdeen-based PCL Group Dr Jeanette Forbes, OBE, said: 'As a global IT and energy tech company operating in over 27 countries, we know first-hand how critical international trade is to business growth and innovation. Trade missions are strategic enablers that unlock new markets, foster long-term relationships, and elevate Scotland's global standing. The collaboration between Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Scotland Office is exactly the type of public-private partnership needed to amplify Scotland's voice on the world stage and grow our economies.' Details of trade missions will be confirmed later. The Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray, (with his younger daughter) and Liz Cameron, CBE Like this: Like Related
