Officials at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) are dealing with hundreds of potential claims relating to Capture, a piece of software rolled out to branches in the 90s, a precursor to the Horizon software.
Similar to the Horizon scandal, they were forced to hand over money, sacked, and in some cases criminally prosecuted by the Post Office.
More than £1bn has already been set aside to deal with Horizon claims.
Steve Marston, 69, was among those who made the trip after he was convicted of theft and false accounting offences in 1998 despite insisting he never stole “a penny”
His case is one of 27 currently being considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the body responsible for putting potential miscarriages of justice before the Court of Appeal.
Steve Marston was prosecuted by the Post Office in 1998 (Photo: Tom Pilston/The i Paper)It is hoped a plan for both can be in place by May when they will have to be signed off by ministers at both DBT and the Treasury.
“That sounded promising. They are actively considering having some sort of scheme in place for those with convictions.
Mr Marston added he hoped the justice watchdog’s new chief Karen Kneller will speed up the process of getting cases before the Court of Appeal.
“We’ve already lost some people. We don’t want to see any more people go to their graves without getting justice,” he added.
Lee Bowerman, a former subpostmaster who says he lost around £60,000 because of Capture (Photo: Tom Pilston/The i Paper)Lee Bowerman, 66, from Ebbw Vale, South Wales says he lost around £60,000 over four years while trying to cover losses from Capture.
“We’ve got this lull now of waiting for the scheme to be put into place and just even designed.
“But we shouldn’t use Horizon as a yardstick. We all thought they had a golden opportunity to fast-track this Capture scheme because of the underlying circumstances.”
Steve Lewis is among those waiting for compensation (Photo: Tom Pilston/The i Paper)Four months later his friend, Steve Lewis, was sacked from his job from a neighbouring Post Office branch after an audit showed a loss.
'My mum was destroyed by second Post Office scandal - we can't wait years for justice'
Read More“Hopefully at the next meeting in May, I’d like to think there’s something positive,” he said.
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Officials met with postmasters today as part of the Government’s commitment to develop an effective and fair redress process that takes into account the circumstances of those affected by Capture.
“Ensuring postmasters are treated with dignity and respect is our absolute priority and we will continue to update on the development of the redress mechanism as it progresses.”
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