Post Office Horizon Inquiry LIVE: Former general secretary George Thomson gives evidence
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Post Office Horizon IT inquiry continues
The inquiry will hear from George Thomson, former general secretary of the National Federation of Subpostmasters.
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He is a typical bully. Denial, diatribe, evasion and bullying. What a horror.
Aye ok Santa claus
What an utter clown Mr Thomson made of himself today, an embarrassing spectacle! He told on himself so many times. He was not interested in supporting his members, only backing his PO paymasters and his clearly dearly beloved Horizon system. Even today he cannot accept that the system had flaws and that he did nothing to protect his members. He seems unable to get that through his dense skull, reverting to stereotypical union leader rants and personal attacks on people who have dared to question him or his organisation over the years. It's extremely telling that the NFSP would not provide legal support to him.
Awh shut it keyboard basher
Shut it ya weirdo
NFSP statement today:
The NFSP of today has been shocked by the evidence of its former General Secretary, George Thomson, given today. This is especially so given the number of people who suffered as a result of the Horizon scandal and the clear evidence at the Inquiry which shows that Horizon was not “robust”.
We want to apologise unreservedly to any member who sought help from the NFSP about Horizon and didn’t receive the support they so desperately needed and deserved. It is clear that more could and should have been done for them and for others. Sadly, due to Mr Thomson’s position on Horizon during his time as General Secretary, this did not happen and for that we are truly sorry.
We believe the evidence today showed that during Mr Thomson’s tenure between 2007 and 2018 he did not take seriously enough the significant warning signals about Horizon and was not willing to accept challenges to his views on it. We believe the evidence also shows his relationship with senior Post Office personnel was too close, to the detriment of those raising issues about Horizon.
The best part of this was when the camera momentarily caught everyone leaving as he ranted at the end 😂
The Pilot's Union General Secretary here (paid by Boeing): 'There have been thousands of 737 Max flights, so the plane must be robust. Only a few accidents happened but that was probably due to pilot error because when I flew Sopwith Camels, the pilots that crashed always blamed the plane when it was actually pilot error - so no need to investigate.
god someone wrote an essay
@betty Says the nutcase who feels compelled to respond to every comment...but unfortunately does not have the intelligence to say something useful!
I am absolutely disgusted
want a tissue 🙄🙄
So this man was receiving his salary from the post office. No wonder he didn't support the Post Masters and Post Mistresses who were prosecuted by the PO, because his salary would have been impacted.
Yep. And I wouldn't mind betting that he's accrued rather a nice big pension pot too.
@@christophercherrington7550stop being jealous 🤗🤗
@@christophercherrington7550 someone’s jealous!!
what a horrible excuse of a man, hes a bully who needs putting in his place
IF someone is asking if they should join a union, show them the performance by this egg.
This bloke is television gold dust .Give him to fellow scot Andrew Niel to interview for an hour PURE COMEDY
He's got to be the very worst waste of time and space on this whole enquiry....surely, there can be no one to supercede this in the future?
I can only begin to imagine how those poor subbies attending must've been feeling .
You should start a fan page with the amount of comments your putting ya lowlife
You’re a waste of space in general… get a life
Bizarre person. The SPMs were wrong, the media were wrong, the lawyers were wrong and the PO was wrong. Just about everyone but him…despite the clear fact he has the intelligence of a gnat.
Be fair. He did say that his dear friend Paula was right.
What a horrid man. In bed with Vennells and the rest of the crooked lawyers
womp womp
Does he think he's at a union conference? He goes on and on and on!!! I've only watched the first 39 minutes.
We've had millennia of. natural evolution ... and this is what it gives us>
Given what we know NOW he was too trusting of the post office....Ive got my ring fenced gold plated pension pal and im alright jack so keep tgese thieving peasant sub postmasters away from my post office limited paymasters to whom im eternally grateful and my love goes out to Paula Vennels ❤
Wow 😮
The question has to be asked, and that is why would spms declare more and more losses when it was evident that they would be told to pay it back?
The horizon system wrongly declared losses !!
3:01:41 seconds - 🎤 mic drop
Others are fully aware of their involvement and are extremely protective and guarded about what they say. Others still try and protect the rabbit which is already out of the bag. The small guy in a big pond. Eyes wide shut, with their fingers in ears la la la....!!!
Point is?
@@DonaldDavid-h7l point is dear boy, no one will care one jot for him, nor will protect him. He's the busted flush, to quote his own words🤣
Loves
If this man is not jailed!!!!! pointless inquiry
As a big a twat as he is, he has not shown anything that is technically illegal. So why would he be jailed? He deserves a boot in the balls, that's for sure.
The fact half of these comments are keyboard bashers and they’re all waffling on.. embarrassing for people commenting!!
He is taking on the people who are trained to ask questions, and he thinks that he can bluster and shout and get away with it something he has done all his life I expect.
Your next
Members paying union-dues, for THIS representation? BEYOND shocking!
deal with it
this man needs jailing and soon...probably after this the easiest to convict...you wont get 12 people who wouldn't convict this guy
@@paulrichards6894 Paul you need help.. nothing illegal here mate. What would he be convicted of?
@@BettyPhuckzerThere is a case for defrauding the sub postmasters. They pay him to represent them and clearly he was against them, he has been hung by his own petard.
@@BettyPhuckzerCongratulations. You get my vote for, 1, Having the most awful, barely printable pseudonym, and 2, for spouting the most ineffable ullage. Truly ghastly.
I wish this guy had a different accent,I’m really embarrassed as both being a trade unionist and a Scotsman.
Don’t think he chose where he was born???
My name is George.. I'm giving deed poll a call shortly
really shows the worst side of trade unionists doesnt he
You get braindead d*heads in every country in every employment position. Only those who are similarly challenged upstairs would think this has anything, whatsoever, to do with your birth country.
@@BettyPhuckzerAnd your problem is..?
My list for future arrests and imprisonment is growing daily.....if this country DOES have justice, then this MUST HAPPEN. give them all a taste of the poison meted out to those innocent victims because of them and their disgusting lies and cover up....
I wonder when HE worked for the Post Office if HE was "nicking" any money like he appeared to say a lot were!
I concur
I said tgat at beginning. Bet paula pants gave him a few backhanders.
Shush ya idiot
Nae bother ya tea towel
Talk about digging a huge hole for himself. What a total tool.
Nae bother Mikey B
This man is a disgrace to Scotland 🏴😮
Can’t be any worse than you..
He’s a disgrace to humanity.
Reply are you his wife?
@@BettyPhuckzer are you George"s wife??
@@Liverpoolboy01 Nah mate.. are you obsessed?
Interesting when he was blurting out his last diatribe the camera showed virtually everybody walking out . No doubt had had enough : what a day. !!!
I hadn't noticed that!, amazing. as a group they turned their backs on the man and walked out while he was ranting. Perfect response from the crowd!
Martin : Would hope he noticed that but he was so much in his own ‘bubble’ of importance I wonder ! Today is probably the first long overdue reality check he has had in his entire life! Would think that will feature on HIGNFY!!
@5:09:16 Walkout.
You’re a positive Peggy!!
I hope Sir Wyn Williams has a few choice words for this guy in his report. What an unbelievably blinkered, agressive and arrogant bully. And I hope he gets to read these comments. Just wow.
And your a complete tool for leaving horrible comments. Think before you speak.
And your an utter tool
The thing that is important to him is the fact that most transactions go through without a problem. He can’t seem to fully understand that sometimes things go wrong with horizon and cause problems. And those problems can be devastating for the sub postmaster.
He never wanted an investigation to find out what was going on and was furious when POL brought in investigators. Even after the investigation, which found that previous prosecutions were unsafe and the bugs in the system, his focus was on the millions of transactions that were correct. He still can’t grasp the magnitude of the problem. And he finished his evidence by talking about sub postmasters who had stolen from POL before the roll out of horizon.
Nobody has accused horizon of causing errors in most transactions.
So he thought the SPMs were guilty and their complaints about Horizon was damaging the Brand....About the same as Paula Vennells!
He seemed VERY keen to defend Horizon at ALL costs!!
Hmmmmm. Wonder why???? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
I was wondering where all that PO money went, enhanced pensions for the board?
Joan Blanchard is over here waffling
@@BettyPhuckzer what do you mean?
Rude!!!
Oh dear. Blustering his way through the whole day, trying hard to convince himself as well as the rest of the forum that he was justifying his total negligence of duty to his union members whilst tucked up snugly in bed with POL.
As stated, belligerent, aggressive; all in the name of defence of the obvious.
Squirm baby, squirm....
No words describe what I think of this man. There are truly not enough bad ones in existence
But nobody asked for your opinion…
@@BettyPhuckzerOr yours.
What on earth was the point of the NFSP and him?
Why were members paying a subscription if they weren't championing members issues?
Just comes across as a mouth piece for POL management, cozying up to them in return for funding and ultimately his personal remuneration.
And I bet the present-day NFSP are holding their corporate heads in their hands too. Their status as being owned-and-paid-for by the Post Office has been highlighted in the most spectacular way. Any credibility they could ever have had with their "membership" has been utterly trashed.
There is a scene from 12 angry men when everyone in the room stops listening to the biased views. This reminds me of that, wake up man. We are not talking about what went right we are talking about what went wrong
You seem like a ray of sunshine!
@@BettyPhuckzer 😆
What a horrible person. Shocking. How did he ever hold a job down.
By getting employed????
Apart from the definition of the word systemic, does he understand the definition of the words, Attitude, Arrogance and Arsehole? Does the HR of the Post Office possess a magnet that attracts these people or is it just a fact that so many of our Corporatess, Institutions and Elites have them embeded?
I think.thats prerequisite
Do you understand what absolute and utter tool means
Joan : So rude when he deflected the stance of being belligerent back to Mr Stein when he stated it to him. Incredible!
womp womp
He was a shockingly bad witness.
as a scotsman he is an embarrassment to us,so blinded,what would he have said if his wife was in the same position as the sub postmasters who lost there lively hood or went to prison
Sorry to say this, but the other witness at the inquiry who was almost as bad as him was also Scottish.
think money is a powerful tool to turn a blind eye
@@ajs41 totally agree with you
I think he is a totally arrogant tool, but never the less will not be prosecuted as he has not done anything legally wrong or perjured himself ( as far as I can see). Jarsnail Slug on the other hand could be locked up for 5 years.
@@ajs41 remember him he was horrible but not as bad as this one but I agree not far behind....it must be a Scottish thing
He seems to love his own opinion…and the sound of his own voice...
Methinks the guilty doth protest too much....not the most erudite witness.
I guess he has done this all his life, keep talking till they give up.
Better than your opinion and your voice ❤️
@@rogerhit9766 yep
@@BettyPhuckzer Yes, he has made sure I know that too. ;)
Jesus Christ imagine being married to him and asking him what he wants for tea!😂
It'll be breakfast tome before he actually answers.😂
@@JoanBlanchard-k6tbreakfast time**
Systemic haggis
@@richardhutchins141 I’ll ram it up you the now
embarrassing
you can’t say much…
@@BettyPhuckzer You are repeating yourself, but I guess you didn't really notice it?
Has anyone asked him what he thinks 'systemic' means?
What about the poor Scottish postmistress pre Horizon who was taking money for food and warmth? One of his examples of bad postmistresses! Poor lady, she was supposed to tend her office and starve per Thomson!
I actually found it refreshing to listen to a witness who didn’t try to talk in riddles, suffer from acute selective memory loss or try to be wise after the fact. His position seems bonkers to me, he must have known the reaction it would get but ultimately he is sticking to what he believes and I do have some respect for that (even if it seems completely wrong).
Bottom line for him was, the business model was in terminal decline (both of the post offices and his organisation) and the last thing it needed was people having a reason to take their business elsewhere. He doesn’t seem to have cared if they had legitimate complaints or not - bottom line was by complaining, they were threatening the business model and that meant they were not going to have his support. And they still don’t. I think that is indefensible, but I imagine he is saying what many of the more highly-trained and careful witnesses really think but are too clever to say out loud.
Interesting.well said
How the f### is this man still in charge of a post office!! What a horrible human being, he is still defending the indefensible and is taking absolutely no responsibility in his or his union actions that played a part in ruining so many people’s lives
Actually I need to post again, this guy is an absolute total tool of the highest order from Mordor…. First comment was after the first hour this is now a joke…
he reminds me of a self serving union boss from the 70s' A sociopath...
Union getting to much money from post office,
they are just as bad not showing any care for there members.
A man who lives to talk without actually saying anything
Talk some sense pal
He reminds me of the guy in charge of reactor 4 at Chernobyl. Totally blinded by his own belief, totally unquestioning of his own views even when the courts have now proved that the Horizon system was faulty to the extent that it created errors for which people were wrongfully convicted and had penalties improsed.
So your comparing this to a nuclear event?? wow..
@@BettyPhuckzer No, I am comparing the characters. At what point did I compare the event?
@@michaelbruce5415 you brought the event into it? read your comment again pal.
@@BettyPhuckzer I’m not your ‘pal’. Suggest you learn some English grammar.
He belongs in jail
He's already bought the shirt.
U a police officer?
God I hope he goes to prison lol he is a dickhead AND an evil person
As much as I agree with you, I've been wondering if anything he has done is actually illegal. Sadly, being an idiot isn't, or 17.1 Million of the UK population would be in jail
@@christophercherrington7550There is a case for Fraud, taking money to represent somebody and then not doing so is a fraud. His real problem is he doesn’t know when to shut up and is unable to answer a question directly 😂 (I guess you are a Remoaner 😂)
A risk impact assessment maps the likelihood of something occurring against the impact if it does occur. Even if Mr Thomas is right about the relatively small numbers of errors as a proportion of all transaction, it’s still a high risk as the impact of those (rare according to Mr Thomas) occurrences have huge impacts. Ruined lives, suicides, bankruptcy, etc.
Do you think he realises how ridiculous he looks? The system was full of bugs from the very beginning even Fujitsu had admitted that fact and every time that Fujitsu was fixing bugs behind the scenes they were causing more problems.
yes but probably only 1% of people got illegally sent to prison! please please please see the nuance! 99% of subpostmasters never saw jail
@@JacintasChromebook That is not the point, the point is that over 900 people and there are more showing up every day, were illegally prosecuted and sent to jail, called liars and cheats. The only reason there weren't more people who were prosecuted is the fact that Fujitsu were fixing problems on the fly and sometimes those fixes caused more problems;. The entire system was flawed because the Post Office wanted to buy a system on the cheap. The Post Office and Fujitsu lied and lied and lied.
Does anyone think this guy realises how much of a tool he look’s commenting 🤷🏼♀️
@@t.dmytryshyn2615get a grip of yourself
I wonder what he would do if HMRC (Fujitsu based software) we’re ever to deny him a tax refund. Pity that the TUC have such persons who are totally blind to errors and bugs that are forever in software. Then again, I am always reminded of Lord Denning who denied the appeals by the Birmingham Six as he could not believe the West Midlands Police could have stitched up the Six. But there is a slight difference in intelligence between Thomson and Denning - or is there!?
Omg imagine answering the phone and hes on the other end. People must said im.dying for a wee....3 hours later anyway george i must go for this wee. Im sure that number got blocked from many people or oeople waving there arms saying tell him i out. I think.i would of caused a row so i never had to dpeak to again. Paula n Angela prob throwing a nice BBQ for him tonight.
Where on gods green earth did they find him I expect hell be drunk in wetherspoons tonight
Will his mates buy him a drink or turn away????
@@JoanBlanchard-k6t no mates
They found you in a bin pal
God only knows where someone found you
George is in Fairyland. He seemed to imagine he was in some sort of POL joint-CEO role, and therefore shared kudos for the efficiencies, profitability, and reputation of POL. Of course on the basis of salary he probably was equal to Ms Vennells but never actually took responsibility for anything. And certainly offered no representation for SPMs and their damned annoying problems which really distracted from the real point of the NFSP which was to feather a nest.
Reminds me of the dinosaur hard left union bully boys of the 1960s and 70s except that he is fighting and bullying his own members. Unbelievable
I knew someone years ago who was a staunch and belligerent union leader who fought extremely hard for the workers he represented....so the company he worked for offered him a management position, thinking he'd take it....more money, etc., but he refused, saying he knew their only tactic was to get hom.on their side, this defeating the strength of the union....
In this bloke's case, its ironic, that he became a union official, to defend his members, so he could then be in the management pockets, instead of the other way round...
Gamekeeper turned Poacher.
David Attenborough with a machine gun in a zoo
An utterly reprehensible person.
Like Vennells he is in total denial.
Prison is necessary for some of these people.
Get a grip
Instead of this so called union paying it's board members through Union Fees they were being paid by the Post Office, which is a huge conflict of interest and should never have happened. They were supposed to be supporting their members who they failed because they wanted their big salaries.
It's not a union, it's a "trade federation" and beholden, in this case to POL, and not the Postmasters.
It used to be a trade union they gave up their members status' for a financial package. Bought and paid for @@rog2224
Seemed to be more interested in talking pre Horizon whereas the whole point of this inquiry is contained in its name !! Unbelievable!!
oh dear they finally getting to The real corporate of the scandal
I didn't know that Rab C Nesbitt had such a prominent position in the Post Office or was it joints with Fujitsu for the cover-up
But at least he wore a shirt instead of the string vest! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Rab C Nesbitt had more Morals than this Cretin!
This man had a duty of care to his members.he abbrogated that trust and broke his contract. The NFSP has apologised however the mebers can now bring claims against it.
If was a member of the NFSP I’d be asking for my Subs Back, they look like a bunch of Post office Lackeys.
Well you’re not..
And we think dogs attacking postal workers are aggressive… this despicable individual is like a rabid pitbull
woof woof
Probably should have been fitted with a muzzle : the guy gave me a headache with aggressive shouting all day long !
@@Sj4-h8l why watch then? common sense 🥸
@@Sj4-h8l don’t listen then??
This George Thomson guy is a good reason why we in England should have a vote along with the Scots about their independence. I for one will certainly support their cause.
Ask rishi sunak pal
There are braindead d*heads in EVERY country. Your comment is about as braindead and racist as it gets...and I am English!
He's post office through and through ... Embarrassing xxx
Call a wa-ambulance xx
This guy totally in the pocket of post office, if he wasn’t his Union would lose vast amounts of money from post office
They had other options for funding.
The big question is why didn't you help your members in the franchise with the appalling contract of blame when it changed and why you failed to help those innocent of blame when they asked for help? In bed with PV as Mr Beer says is one hell of a sight I'd like to forget!
Indeed!!!🤮🤮🤮🤮
Big question is why are you waffling on and on… and on.. and on.. god it doesn’t stop
Deluded
Delulu is the solulu 😝😝
The sort of bloke who'd ask to borrow someone's toilet... And go in the sink
😂😂😂😂😂
Why you thinking of him urinating ya predator
Weirdo
@BettyPhuckzer I'M the weirdo???
BTW your name has a 'z'mistakenly put in it....
@@JoanBlanchard-k6t not mistakenly hunny xo
what planet does this guy Thomson live on, he's a nut
Funnily enough I’d say earth. Not sure where your about-
He lives in the pocket of POL
With a good plated POL pension
This Individual has disgraced the Trade Union Movement & used his Position to inform on Post Masters to the Management of the PO, by passing on E-Mails etc & stating constantly, that Horizon was working properly.
There is a place for people like him!
Yes..its called prison. He can carry on passing notes to vile Vennells through the bars to her cell...
Both slopping out together 😂😂😂@@JoanBlanchard-k6t
In the words of the great Dennis Healey, 'when you are in a hole, stop digging'! Anyone else notice we finally got a definition of 'systemic': If the system screws up on one in a hundred transactions or more we have a systemic problem. Pretty low bar for an accounting system that!
Back door hes obsessed. Im not sure what back door he means!!!!@
Very assured but wrong. There were convictions before Horizon, but SPMs would have been able to audit there own manual transaction data. After roll-out they couldn’t.
What a dinosaur. The Inquiry is all about the (now) known bugs within Horizon which definitely caused horrendous problems for many SPMs. And which should have been investigated and dealt with properly by Post Office/Fujitsu; and should have been fully challenged by his Union. Not the whole of the Horizon system but the problem areas. Stuck his head in the sand like too many others
To the tune of the Kinks "Well it's the self preservation society"
surprised thompson did not spend an hour on why he was swearing on the bible. Not sure why the amount of money lost has got to do with whether its investigated or not. The guy is an absolute disgrace. Hes in bed with the PO and does not want to admit he was not bothered to do anything for his members.
Does he realise how obnoxious he is? I hope that when he watches this recording, he considers signing up for a self-awareness course.
He's quite mad. Stark staring bonkers
You can’t make this stuff up ?
Well he’s not.
This guy is an absolute @&£)
an “@&£)” well I’ve never heard of that before!
Shame as a Scot… gave him a small chance , but have a spine
Arrogance personified
Does GT not know that none of the cash that allegedly went missing as a result of the system bugs were never found..not under mattresses, no fancy holidays, cars etc you get my point (he clearly doesn’t) ..what a chuffer
There is no substance to his aggressive ramblings. He generalises and picks and chooses facts, often diluting them. I think he’s made a career out of chewing peoples’ ears off until they cave in and agree to what he says.
That was unreal. I would not shop with him a second time.
His highest ever test score was for cholesterol.
Your a piggy
Says you keyboard basher
The ads here are much louder than the video. Annoying.
Gorbals George. What a guttersnipe.
Fancy talking sense?
@@BettyPhuckzer Don't be racist! Get a brain!
Embarrassing for everyone commenting.. nobody in these comments have an actual point to make!!
Mr. Thomson has a point.
The IT system was handling significant transactions, but a sub group of postmasters was affected.
Those behind the state have always wanted Post Office fully privatised. This inquiry will be the death nail for Post Office and lead to further uncertainty down the road for its staff and future role in the market.
Some aspects of what Mr Thomson says are true.
Exactly.
The problem here is that the Post Office took the view that the system was 100% defect free and didn’t listen to any concerns. He’s skewing the facts to suit himself. Fujitsu being such a large company would have teams of Quality Assurance testers to ensure that most obvious bugs are caught. Therefore, that means it’s most likely that reported bugs are edge cases and ones that affect a smaller group of users. And this is what we are seeing from the inquiry.
@bluebrakes Some aspects of what Mr Thomson said is true. Horizon handled loads of transactions throughout its operational period. Now, the Post Office is going to use the same system for another contracted period of time. There's still nothing to say that the same defects or new defects may happen again.
@@dr.impossibleofcounterpunc1984 That's where he is skewing facts. I don't doubt that if the found and reported bugs are rectified that the system could be improved. But he completely misses the point that in any given system there are bugs and defects that won't necessarily affect every user. Some bugs are yet to be discovered by users. Rather simply put; he thinks that a 99.99% success rate means 100%. But worse still, he took the success rate and used that to completely shut down any of his members that raised concerns about the system. It's like saying that we don't need police because 99% of the population are law abiding so we'll ignore the 1% of criminals.
@bluebrakes I don't agree with everything Thomson stated. But the IT Horizon System was fairly effective. There was a subgroup who was affected by the bugs, which led to the situation we're in now.
The impact of this inquiry will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the Post Office. As the Post Office is a partly privatised business, the implications will be great given time.
A lip readers nightmare
point is??
what a shocking human being its not me mentality and continual sucking up to the PO