The Launch of Lost Chances

The BBC and ITV covered the launch of Lost Chances for Subpostmaster Children LCSC on March 14th, with filming in Manchester and Birmingham just over two weeks after Katie Downey had attended the Department of Business and Trade Parliamentary Committee on February 27th at the House of Commons, where her father Tony gave evidence. At that committee, listening to the parade of Post Office bosses and civil servants giving evidence, the germ of an idea began about forming a new support group as well as a representative movement to get the voices heard of those who were children when their Subpostmaster Parents were affected. There are now over 100 interested Subpostmaster adult children who have requested to join LCSC as well as some parents of children under eighteen also interested in a separate support group. Three meetings for sharing have already been held via zoom.

On the 19th of January Paul Patterson, director of Fujitsu European Services, gave evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. Sam Stein KC asks searing questions about the impact on families and children of Subpostmasters to which Paul Patterson responds that he would be willing to engage. We have made contact twice with Paul Patterson with one response. We are yet to hear about an official meeting.

Watch the full video here (1 minute 16 seconds in) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp7XVeCGxw8

On March 14th, Katie Downey , Rebekah Foot, Sean Connelly, Millie Castleton and Varchas Patel gave interviews via video for BBC Breakfast interviewed by Emma Simpson, and on the sofa Varchas, Katie and Rebekah were interviewed by Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt. The videocast ran at 6am and was flagged twice before it was shown again at 8.15am when Katie, Rebekah and Varchas were interviewed live across the nation.

Although, as Emma Simpson Business correspondent for the BBC said ‘we are pushing at an open door for this story’, it was remarkably well-covered given the campaign began as an idea only on March 1st and by March 14th had been launched with major television news and print media coverage. We were not in a position to serve the print media and all television as well as we might as there were only two of us organising, but print media picked up the story from the morning’s television news. This publicity is particularly remarkable given Katie’s newness to running a campaign and building an organisation from scratch and the sheer logistics of it. Katie who is based in Spain after her family fled abroad when her father Tony was made bankrupt, was in Birmingham and travelled to Manchester studios.

On April 27th Katie comes over to attend the Public Inquiry as an Observer, meet the Inquiry’s Engagement
team, and then travels to Bishops Stortford to join her father on Nick Wallis’s theatre tour about the Post Office
scandal.

Contact Lost Chances for media inquiries - support@lostchances.co.uk or rosiefranczak@gmail.com

OTHER Links;

Ø BBC Lunchtime News, Brief repeat.

Ø BBC 6.30pm National second lead item-longer piece

Ø ITV News, lunchtime and Evening

Ø ITV Border News

Ø BBC Northwest TV Regional

Ø BBC Radio 5 Live National

Ø BBC Radio Humberside, Cumbria,

Ø LBC with Carol Vorderman

Ø The Asahi Shimbun (one of the 5 largest newspapers in Japan)

Ø Sky –Friday Night with Nial Paterson evening show and Richard Brooks talking about the initiative with an image of Katie

Ø Computer Weekly Karl Flinders

Ø The Westmorland Gazette feature

Ø BBC Radio Merseyside, Rebekah Foot interview

Ø ITV Good Morning Britain had Tony Downey on the sofa in January. They are aiming to pick up again when there is a new news peg.

Ø The Daily Telegraph: feature

Ø Daily Mail online feature

Ø Asahi Shimbun -London Bureau Interview with Katie Downey in Japan’s leading ‘liberal’ paper of record.

Ø Labour Hub article by Rosie Brocklehurst March 17

Ø Private Eye feature by Richard Brooks March 29,

Ø INewspaper feature

Ø Sky News report, Adi Misra April 6

Ø Refreshing podcast with Johnny Collins April 11