'Mr Bates vs The Post Office:' Sir Alan Bates to receive honorary degree from Coventry University

Sir Alan Bates' work heavily contributed to hundreds of criminal convictions being overturned in the Post Office scandal. Credit: PA Images

The campaigner at the centre of the Post Office scandal, Sir Alan Bates, is to receive an Honorary Degree from Coventry University.

Bates will receive the honorary doctorate in recognition of his quest for justice. He recently received a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours list, having been the driving force behind hundreds of former postmasters and mistresses fighting to clear their names after being wrongfully convicted in the Horizon IT scandal.

He founded the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and in 2017 more than 500 subpostmasters led by Sir Alan brought a group action in the High Court to highlight what was wrong with the Post Office’s IT system.

His work heavily contributed to hundreds of criminal convictions being overturned.

The Alliance’s efforts rose to prominence when the ITV television series Mr Bates vs The Post Office shone a spotlight on one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.

Sir Alan, 69, will join crowds of students for a ceremony at Coventry Cathedral next week when he will receive an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws.

Reacting to the news, he said: “I hadn’t expected this and it was very much a surprise. My other half asked me ‘are you going to accept it?’ and I said ‘I think I will’ as I have turned down an awful lot of things. However, this isn’t about me – this is about the group, what has happened and what still needs to happen now.”

In Wales, Alan Bates has already been awarded a First Minister’s Special Award for leading the campaign to expose the Post Office scandal. Credit: PA Images

The JFSA began their journey back when Sir Alan gathered around 40 former subpostmasters and mistresses on a Sunday in 2009 at Fenny Compton Village Hall, 20 miles south of Coventry.

But why was Fenny Compton chosen when Sir Alan himself had run a post office in Llandudno, in north Wales?

He said: “I was looking for somewhere centrally in the UK with good connections so people could travel and it wasn’t too far off the motorway to get to the hall at Fenny Compton. As we weren’t funded I always concentrated on village halls and found Fenny Compton which seemed suitable and wasn’t ridiculously expensive to hire, and thought we’d give it a go and see who turns up.

“We were restricted to the kitchen though as at that time they had a hole in the floor in the main hall! Most of our meetings in the early days weren’t at Fenny Compton, they were in Kineton and we only went to Fenny Compton that once due to the building work.”

Professor John Latham CBE, Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University, said: “Sir Alan has spent the last 20 years fighting one of the biggest injustices seen in this country for some time. He has done so tirelessly, selflessly and with no desire to take credit for himself – he has simply wanted to do the right thing for hundreds of people who had been wronged.

“He epitomises the very essence of some of the qualities we try to instill in our students; dedication, determination and passion. Our students should look at Sir Alan and feel inspired to achieve with the same levels of resilience, leadership and collaboration with others. We could not be prouder to bestow an Honorary Doctorate of Laws upon Sir Alan Bates.”

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