Isn't it strange how MPs demand straight clear answers in Select Committees, yet struggle to do exactly that, when asked by various media outlets.

These scumbags should be in front a jury not a select committee…..

Our country is so corrupt. From the top down

The CEO was avoiding questions, waffling and trying his very best to not implicate anyone. Truly disgusting.

He’s been the CEO of Post Office for 4yrs and yet still knows absolutely nothing about what happened. Dreadful

The sheer arrogance of this man. To think he has been the top man at The Post Office for 4 years, and he thinks he can come to this enquiry with no intentions of answering any of their questions takes my breath away. But, on the other hand it doesn’t surprise me. Any one would think he didn’t realise there was a scandal until 2 minutes before he entered the enquiry room.

Wow congratulations to the post office.CEO more than 4 years in the job and getting nearly £500k a year plus bonuses and he didn’t even bother or have the decency to reply to any question???? This is worse than slapping those poor innocent postmaster’s in the face . We taxpayers pay for that it pure madness.

This guy is a total fraud. He knows exactly when the post office knew back door access was available but wont say it publicly.

These MPs who are grilling the PO boss themselves have had years to ask questions about something that had been known about for nearly two decades. The English voters need to ask themselves why, only now, the people they put in power are starting to do what they should have been doing years ago.

The bosses of the post office should be personally held accountable with jail sentences & criminal compensation payable

Those who took innocent people to court need to be taken to court and convicted and put in prison. This is disgraceful.

By refusing to give a straight answer, Nick Read has insulted every person involved in this case, absolutely disgusting to watch

This is an utter disgrace. I am so sick of what is happening in this country. People need to be going to prison and bonuses need to be paid back too. Like Stephen Flynn said. Between this, Grenfell, The blood disaster and so much more. We get the same treatment.

So the Post Office CEO says his company gains no benefit from dragging their heals, yet this has been going on for years. They have demonstrably done everything they possibly could from day one to stop the truth coming out.

FOUR YEARS and he hasnt bothered to ask questions... TIME FOR JAIL

Did it NOT occur to any of these disgraceful people that 700 sub postmasters could all be stealing money at the same time!!?….hope they all go to jail

Undoubtedly, the Post Office and Fujitsu hold the majority of the blame, but there's something almost amusing about seeing MPs that have been around since the time these grotesque actions occurred pointing the finger as though absolving themselves of all guilt. Their constituents begged for their help. They didn't care. They didn't listen. Now, a TV programme comes out and, being MPs, they want to look good. It's all shit and that's a tragedy.

Bullshitting, lies, and memory lost, well who'd have thought. Some of these bastards need jail time!.

High courts the answer to this mob jail time

Just when you think you could not possibly think any less of Post Office Execs, they pull this out of the bag. BRAVO!

Why is it a CEO never seems to know the facts when questioned?.

Why does it feel like no one at the post office seems to know anything about any of this? They talk about this 'scandal' as if it happened on its own, without any human intervention.

If a CEO knows so little about his own organisation surely he has no place leading that organisation.

Totally unacceptable. This man needs firing. Disgusting

An untrustworthy CEO being grilled by some equally untrustworthy MPs, when, in reality, both sides have some serious explaining to do. And let's not forget that the issue they are discussing has only gained prominence because of an ITV drama which made people angry.

The CEO was saying everything he could to not implicate any one before his time what a stiff upper lip to the old boy tie network.

The British class system. Waffling in a posh accent while saying nothing, taking no responsibility, and facing no accountability while the working class go to prison, see their lives collapse and sometimes in the worst case scenarios die from stress or suicide. Why does this remind me of listening to Sunak or Johnson and any number of their cronies. The only thing that is certain is that none of the people involved will ever see the I side of a prison cell.

Senior management in the Post Office who were part of this terrible miscarriage of justice should be prosecuted ,it is vital that as a society we can trust our institutions & trust has been lost in too many in recent years the Justice System being one of them

If you have been (or would have been) a self employed sub postmaster for 20 years making £50kpa that's £1 million, plus pension, plus property appreciation, plus reputation, plus PTSD, plus the pressures on family members. And some could have been SPM for 40 years. There has to be custodial sentences looking at those who were CEO's of the PO and Fujitsu.

surely Nick read should be sacked. He has been in charge for 4 years but appears to know absolutely nothing. That must disqualify him for his role mustn't it?

Where is Paula Vennels in all this? She should be held accountable

His answers are a clear example of how those in power are allowed to evade accountability over and over again by side stepping difficult questions and kicking the ball down the road. Meanwhile they enjoy the fruits of their greed whilst ordinary people are humiliated and de valued. Where did the old UK go ? I am left pondering whether it ever existed or are are the elite just less adept at cover up. Either way its very sad.

It fascinates me that these jokers have been called to an enquiry about a specific issue and are unwilling to show they have done their homework so they can actually give answers for a serious situation. Just goes to show the level of contempt the Post Office are showing about this utter calamity! It’s disgusting.(thank you for correcting me )

The lady behind Mr Read is illustrating what the general public think about his evidence (waffle & lies)

"My job today, is to run the post office"... so why are some of the investigators, STILL employed by the post office? Ok, so they may not be "investigating" anymore, but they're still picking up a decent wage/bonuses?

All those who enabled the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history should now be investigated, charged and imprisioned plus pay back any monies they recieved in bonuses etc this includes, the Post Office Board, Senior Managers, Lawyers both Corporate and Public plus MPs holding oversight over the Post Office, there can be nomore excuses or cover ups.

A light must always shine on the staggering inequality in wealth in this country, and the problems that arise because of it. This scandal is an example of such inequalities and I have genuine hatred for the humans at fault.

You would think that in 4 years this guy would have made himself an expert on the in's and outs of this scandal - however he seems to know sod all about it. He should just put his hands up and admit the Post Office behaved appallingly, and by the end of January the Post Office should pay all of the victims in full. What a tw%t!

A sad indictment of the general selfishness and greed of priviledged people. The British Public is watching very closely. This is potentially the stuff of revolutions and WE will eventually become so frustrated with our corrupted governance that we will that tear down not only the Post Office but Westminster, too. These morlocks must go!

This is sadly the calibre of many of our [so called] captains of industry. Personally I find it a total disgrace that these senior managers are allowed to behave as they do,come before a committee and not be able or willing to answer straight forward questions, treat the committee with disdain and take over inflated wages and bonuses. I feel quite strongly that the people involved in this scandal who knew what was happening and did nothing need to be identified, dragged [no doubt kicking and screaming] before the courts and on summary conviction handed very substantial prison sentences and in addition be made to pay back their I'll gotten gain i.e. their bonuses which ultimately are akin to proceeds of their criminal activities 😮😮😮

This guy should answer the Questions put to him instead of still covering things up we know the truth

The lady sat behind Reid is shaking her head in disbelief of some of his answers 🤨

So where is Vennells in these enquiries? Why ask the incumbent CEO whether he thought the statements made to parliament in 2015 were wrong (who of-course dodged out in the style of any well-versed politician), when it is Vennells herself that should be answering such questions. This is about unearthing perjury and criminality for heaven's sake, so the fact that Vennells resigned her position is irrelevant for criminal investigations. C'mon, how/where is she hiding amidst all of this?!

These need to have the same legal standing as a court of law. People sitting before the committee should have to swear an oath about telling the truth and those that are found to lie should spend time at his majesties pleasure till they learn to be honest. These don’t serve any real purpose as is shown by the fact that you can not answer any question directly and get away with it.

Post office bosses still trying to protect the business. Four years running the company, yet still claims not to know key information. The rot is still there.

To summarise, they simply DO NOT CARE and think they can ride this out unscathed "the relationship is between the public and the individual Post Office" translates into "why should we give a f@ck?".

My father worked for the post office all of his life. He saw various circumstances where individuals were investigated by the post office and they were assumed to be guilty before being proved to be guilty. On various occassions when reluctantly allowed the individuals went through the accounts and found the fault. But the investigators were not keen to re-assess the accounts.

He just kept AVOIDING answering EVERY question

Oh, so the post office is conducting the enquiry into the post office themselves??….gosh, that sounds fair and impartial!!….this country is so broken. …….No one is accountable for anything anymore

I have two questions I haven't heard anyone ask. First, did the post office pay tax on the excess payments from postmasters? It seems like this was unreported income. Second, the post office claims they didn't keep records of those payments. If they didn't keep records, can the records of the postmasters be a substitute source of truth? If not, why not?

This Horizon scandal is absolutely horrendous. Individual post masters hounded to hand over their own money to cover short falls. Then having done this it was treated by the post office as an admission of guilt. But what is even more shocking as this has gone on for decades and Fujitsu has hid the faults in its software Shifty Sunak has given Fujitsu more contracts for the flood warnings, Foreign Office phone system world wide and the national alert s which has proved not to be working properly. Sunak has a lot to answer about these new multi million pound contracts for Fujitsu.

The chief executive should all be held Accountable for the failings and jailed if necessary Many lives have been ruined.

This wordsmith epitomises the problems within institutions.

No point being absolutely appalled NOW when people have had their lives ruined, and in some cases ended because of this. People are DEAD because of this.

The PO and Fujitsu knew about the software glitch and still prosecuted the innocent rather than come clean and now apparently they have no records. There should be lengthy prison sentences dealt out.

So to sum it up, the post office is stalling for time to get all of those complicit in this blatant cover-up out the doors with their severance packages and pensions intact. Meanwhile the people whose lives and reputations they destroyed can't even expect answers to simple questions. All that's been really achieved is MP's getting an opportunity to morally grandstand and churn out meaningless soundbites for election season but ultimately proving how powerless they are to their corporate masters.

This pisses me off no end. First, MPs now finally get the balls to call out this travesty?! Where the eff were they in the 20-odd years this has been happening? Second, we are hearing the same b*$!t from those who are being 'held to account'. We will look into it, regret, address it... blah blah bah Third, how much is the compensation *legitimately* due to postmasters and postmistresses costing the taxpayer when this outrage should never have happened in the first place Fourth, how much is this useless enquiry also costing taxpayers when, again, MPs should have been protecting their constituents interests in the first place.

The trouble with these MPs is they aren't used to cross-examination - so it's like they never really land a punch. Watch Darren Jones to see how to do it. The MP is showboating to his constituents - but it's all to no effect. "Didn't you do this?" "No." Pointless waste of time.

Shame on them .. even now there putting very high ended legal teams in place to still fight these people and try to reduce the amounts they get 😡😡😡disgusting, disgraceful people. GET THEM PAID!!!!!!

A" number" of overturned convictions that can be measured in double digits is sickening . Hundreds are waiting to have theirs overturned. Others have taken them to their graves as "sound convictions".

"I dont think I can give you a straight answer on that". Yup. you got that right!

They’re trying to get to bottom of a lot of things ,they were pretty quick to bottom the victims

The way I see it, is, if you were to rob a post office, you would receive a much harsher prison sentence as opposed to robbing a bank. The reason was always known to be, it was a crown protected premises. Surely the crown should be liable along with the government for the huge reparations needed to rectify their wholly unjust actions?

I don't understand why the hearing was not paused and him given the questions that required answering and told him to go away and return with the answers on Monday. And tell him that next time he should be properly briefed.

I've seen greased piglets who are less slippery than Nick Read

Wasn’t me, wasn’t there, not me guv, didn’t see me do it.

What a sham. The present CEO who has been in office for 4 years has clearly shown his damn care attitude with his answers. There is no remorse nor any focus to come out with specifics and to hold those responsible for cover up with accountability and to take punitive measures against those responsible. The present CEO is continuing on path of cover up with vague evasive and all is good now posture and answers . Both the Post Office and NHS have the same corrupt and incompetent leadership / management problems. None of these CEOs or Directors are even a bit interested in dissecting and understanding issues so as to resolve the problems and weakness. Instead all these so called leaders of management are interested is to cover up , have a good time generally and enjoy their high salary (which they do not deserve) , perks and unjustified bonuses. They all need to be sacked and jailed .

Absolutely mental that if it wasn’t for a TV show, this would not be spoken about right now

He indicated even though there are personnel still employed by the PO who contributed to the false allegations against the SPMs he will not take any punitive action against them. Great answer from a CEO that could be used in industrial tribunals where a boss has found out to have committed a crime against his employees.

Slippery and evasive and not fit for purpose. When are those responsible going to be prosecuted?

Make sure the people responsible face a criminal investigation.

Hindsight is not a given. Politicians at the time are also liable. Not just Post Office and Fujitsu

What I don’t understand is that when all this money went ‘missing’ there must have been visibility that in the closing balances (which I suggest should have been done daily) there was a significant excess balance in these accounts. Someone must have hidden this. This is inexcusable

If you shut your eyes i swear you can hear Gove talking 😅😅😅

The 'hidden' biggies yet to be highlighted are: Chair and boards during the whole of this and the processes, monitory amounts and method of payment of this 'cheap' compensation being paid. In the US it would be close to $100million each if it went to court there.

It's quite impressive how they found an even bigger snake to lead the Royal Mail then the one that went before. Well done.

All post office management are Complicit . People need to go to prison over this. But unfortunately no justice exists in society . For these kind of people. Just smoke and mirrors with all these select Committees. not one individual will ever see the inside of a prison cell.

4 years!!! Unbelievable

Why haven’t they been arrested for lying and they should be paying compensation

Mr Read is expert at answering a question and saying nothing. It’s quite an art.

I would not trust this guy and his ilk to successfully, and accurately, run a tap!

Is it just me or is he related to Michael Gove? It is like watching and listening to Gove in a parallel quantum reality

MP " I've asked three or four questions and not had an answer to one" now you know how we all feel when someone asks you a question.

"Speed up as much as we can and as quickly as we can the compensation that's being paid". Said no business leader in private, ever.

Remote access to the terminals!!!!!?? It's gets worse, some f***er could have remotely stole that money and sat back and allowed all those people to suffer.

If they had the real threat of jail time and personally had to pay the money back... I'm sure the PO Ceo would suddenly find answers! ... 🙄🤔

It's a shame Darren Jones wasn't chairing this interview.

Why does there seem to be laws for the majority of British subjects and different laws for the powers that be? The people who received money they have taken from Post Office staff must all now face prosecution .

I heard a long documentary about this on Radio4 about 2015. Why was nobody in the PO taking notice or Parliament taking notice? If I heard it and was appalled ( and it was a long programme) surely I was not the only listener to the wireless that day?

I wonder how much more information would flow from his lips if failure to answer any question resulted in 1 year one year in prison.

I’m still waiting to hear how many members of each company’s management teams will be facing criminal charges….how angry will the general public be if no one faces legal charges I wonder….if any bookies are taking bets my money would be on very few….most will walk away with their bonuses and pensions intact. I don’t think I’ve seen such complete incompetence from so many highly recompensed individuals. Pathetic excuses too. They should lose everything and sell their own homes to fund compensation.

Ive never trusted the post office and also I've never trusted the Tories.

I'm not British. How is it possible that a company (PO) had the ability to run prosecutions? Doesn't your judicial system have the concept of conflict of interest?

I do hope that many individuals from the PO management & investigation teams are prosecuted over their deliberate actions in this whole affair!! I bet the shredders have been working overtime these last few weeks!!

I’m no behaviour psychologist but I’m getting a strong sense of minimising and covering up something big here.

Select committees are one of the areas where parliament works best. Far less 'Yah Boo' politicking, and far more, cross party experts at work to scrutinize and hold people to account.

Those at the top get a tribunal, lesser beings go to court.

I’ve asked 3 or 4 questions and I haven’t had one answer yet … welcome to how the public feel WHENEVER a politician is asked ANYTHING 😂

The most difficult aspect is for post office management to give a straightforward answer. They are terrified of yes and no how do these failures get senior jobs. Clearly, he should be offered a top civil service position, and he has nothing to keep him at lower levels.

HOW the Post Office conjures up fraudulent eeason to prosecute those people. They should go to jail.