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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIn October 2015, former subpostmaster and campaigner Tim McCormack warned Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells about an intermittent Horizon bug he said could cause branch-accounting losses. An internal email later quoted at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry called him a “bluffer.” Computer Weekly subsequently reported that McCormack and fellow campaigners investigated a Horizon problem at Dalmellington, Scotland, involving duplicated remittance acceptance.
McCormack’s warning to Paula Vennells
In an October 2015 email to then chief executive Paula Vennells, McCormack described his warning as a “last chance” for the Post Office to accept what he said he had been telling it for years. Computer Weekly quoted him saying: “I now have clear and unquestionable evidence of an intermittent bug in Horizon that can and does cause thousands of pounds of losses to subpostmasters.” That was McCormack’s claim in the correspondence, not an independently verified general measure of losses.
The inquiry transcript records how Post Office lawyer Rodric Williams characterized McCormack in an internal email: “Generally, my view is that this guy is a bluffer, who keeps expecting us to March to his tune. I don’t think we should do so, but instead respond with a straight bat.” The transcript preserves the wording of the email; it is distinct from Williams’s explanation at the inquiry nearly nine years later.
What Computer Weekly reported about the Dalmellington bug
Computer Weekly reported that the technical issue concerned the Dalmellington branch in Scotland. According to its account, a social-media exchange about branch problems led McCormack, former subpostmaster and CWU representative Helen Baker, a current subpostmaster who wished to remain anonymous, and subpostmaster and CWU representative Mark Baker to investigate.
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Computer Weekly said Horizon could duplicate acceptance of a remittance after repeated attempts to send it during screen freezes and forced log-offs. The publication reported the bug in November 2015. These technical details and the account of how the group investigated come from Computer Weekly’s reporting, rather than from the inquiry transcript discussed below.
What Williams told the inquiry in 2024
At the 18 April 2024 hearing of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, Williams was asked why he had thought McCormack was bluffing. Williams said he understood the remark to concern the ultimatum, and explained that McCormack had not given enough detail about the problem or the branch for the Post Office to pursue useful internal lines of inquiry. The transcript records him saying: “He wasn’t very specific with what the issue was or where it was, so there were very limited lines of inquiry that we had internally, without something more from him.”
Williams also said that, to him, “a straight bat” meant “appropriately.” Those comments are his testimony about what he meant; they do not alter the language used in the earlier email or establish whether the reported Dalmellington fault existed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the bug was connected to later litigation
Computer Weekly reported that the Dalmellington bug later featured as evidence in the 2018/19 High Court case brought by Alan Bates and more than 500 other subpostmasters. The inquiry transcript cited here documents the internal email and Williams’s testimony; the later litigation connection is reported by Computer Weekly.
The record therefore contains three distinct elements: McCormack’s October 2015 warning, Williams’s contemporaneous “bluffer” characterization and his later explanation at the inquiry, and Computer Weekly’s reporting on the Dalmellington investigation and subsequent litigation. Keeping those sources separate matters: Williams’s account explains his view of McCormack’s ultimatum, while Computer Weekly supplies the technical and legal context.
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