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The Great Post Office Trial · BBC Radio 4

Bonus Episode: The Full Nick Read Interview

July 14, 2023·30 min·2 clips
Post Office CEO Nick Read disputed that labelling settlement letters 'without prejudice' and then defining that phrase as 'confidential' was misleading — despite it being legally incorrect.
Nick Reid finally says yes. After repeated refusals from him and Paula Venels, the host gets his chance outside a parliamentary conference at the Palace of Westminster in London. That location gives the exchange some bite. The interview is framed as a rare moment when someone representing the Post Office answers BBC questions about a scandal that began in 1999, apart from a short Today programme interview with a communications chief eight years earlier. Episode 12 used only part of the conversation. This bonus edition lets the full exchange breathe, because the earlier programme had too much material to fit it all in. Then the questioning gets sharper. The host brings up a security team compliance document that used racial classification codes for sub-postmasters, language he compares to police terminology from the 1970s. Reid calls it utterly abhorrent. He says he is speechless that such terminology and codification could have been used around 2008 to 2010 or 2011, based on the initial review he had seen. He still chooses his words carefully. Reid says an initial report suggests the document came from Royal Mail Group during the handover process, but he does not want to speak too soon. He promises a deeper inquiry. External legal advice, he says, has been brought in to help the Post Office understand exactly what happened. The host keeps going. If sub-postmasters were being racially categorised, did racism influence prosecution decisions made by the security team? That is the hard turn. Reid says he is genuinely appalled by the language and asks people inside the organisation to call out any racism now. He says he does not believe racism is prevalent in the organisation. The episode closes with the Post Office's stated commitment to disclose relevant documents, before the host points listeners to fresh revelations from the ongoing inquiry.

As heard by us

A rare Post Office interview that keeps the focus on racial classification codes and accountability.

This bonus edition offers a rare interview with Post Office chief executive Nick Reid, recorded by chance outside a parliamentary hearing at the Palace of Westminster in London and presented in lightly edited form.

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Why you'd press play

Hear the full interview with Post Office chief executive Nick Reid after the committee hearing.

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