Post Office hero Alan Bates praised over bold decision to turn down OBE

02 January 2024 , 14:54

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Post Office hero Alan Bates praised over bold decision to turn down OBE

Carol Vorderman has taken to social media to praise Post Office hero Alan Bates over his decision to turn down an OBE for a very noble reason.

The British Post Office scandal, often regarded as one of the country's biggest miscarriage of justice, is currently a topic of conversation thanks to ITV's drama series focused on the wrongful prosecution of many innocent workers.

In Mr Bates vs The Post Office, available to stream now on ITVX, Alan Bates is played award-winning actor Toby Jones, who recreates Alan's dogged, decades-long fight against the Post Office on behalf of hundreds of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses wrongfully prosecuted and in several cases wrongly jailed.

As exclusively revealed by the Mirror last month, Alan recently turned down the chance to become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) due to the fact the person he and so many others blame for the whole scandal still retains her own honour. Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019, and still retains the honour to this day.

Alan Bates with his Pride of Britain award at 10 Downing Street in October (Phil Harris)

Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells was made a CBE in 2019 (PA)

"The first thing that sprang to my mind while reading the letter was Paula Vennells still had a CBE. I felt so deeply insulted," Alan explained when speaking to the Mirror last month. "She presided over a policy of harassing hundreds of innocent people. It’s not just that the Government hasn’t asked her to return it. What’s even worse is that despite knowing the strength of feeling about it, how people have suffered and some cases died on her watch – she doesn’t feel inclined to give it back."

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Taking to Twitter (X) on Tuesday, following many people learning of Alan's story thanks to watching Mr Bates Vs The Post Office on ITV this week, Carol shared how the heroic worker turned down offer of an OBE and congratulated him on instead being honoured with a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award last year.

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"Alan Bates turned down an OBE as Paula Vennells, the woman in charge of the Post Office through the Horizon Scandal, retains her CBE and refuses to give it back," Carol told her Twitter followers as she shared a picture of Alan receiving his Pride of Britain gong in October. "A man of honour."

After sharing an extract of Alan's recent interview with the Mirror regarding his reasons for refusing the honour from the British monarchy, Carol added: "Alan accepted a @PrideOfBritain award in 2023. We were over the moon to give that to him. Not all heroes wear capes."

Carol's fans thanked the former Countdown star for sharing Alan's story with them on Tuesday, with one Twitter user telling the maths guru: "Yes, Alan Bates is a man of honour. Paula Vennells should be ashamed of herself." Another replied to the star's tweet with: "Exactly everything that's wrong with the system. The honours system spends a lot of time honouring those that don't deserve (note current crop of peerages) at the expense of the reputation of those who deserve." You can read Alan's full interview with the Mirror regarding his refusal to accept an OBE here.

Zoe Delaney