Hundreds of former subpostmasters are to be compensated by the Post Office after it accidentally leaked their names and addresses online last year.
Some data leaks are more sensitive or problematic than others. A leak on the Post Office’s site is one of the more problematic ones. The Bolton News reports:
The Post Office confirmed it has agreed to pay individuals either £5,000 or £3,500, depending on whether they were living at the address leaked at the time, while higher claims may be pursued in “special cases”. The data breach was revealed last June when it emerged the personal details of 555 victims of the Horizon IT scandal had been published on the Post Office’s website.
The Horizon IT scandal involved subpostmasters being wrongfully accused and prosecuted for missing funds. An article last year in The Bolton News provided context for one of the affected individuals:
A sub-postmaster from Bolton who was one of the first to be prosecuted by the Post Office in the Horizon scandal has spoken of his ‘horrendous’ ordeal.
Kevin Banks from Great Lever bought the Old Lane Post Office in Salford in 1997 with his wife Tracy, but as the new computer system Horizon was being installed, the sub-postmaster and his wife soon found themselves encountering losses.
The Horizon scandal saw more than 700 postmasters given criminal convictions from 1999 to 2015, after Fujitsu accounting software Horizon made it appear that money was missing, when it was not.
Related: Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd (Wikipedia article on the litigation)
Related: Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office (TV Drama Series)
