THE POST Office scandal has prompted a petition against a Japanese technology company that has its UK headquarters in Bracknell to be blasted for ‘bringing shame on the town’.

A recent TV series called ‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’ has told the harrowing story of more than 700 branch managers wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting by the Post Office for errors in its own computer system Horizon.

The story has been dramatised in ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which aired last week – and features Lesley Nicol as Pam Stubbs. Mrs Stubbs, who ran Barkham’s Post Office and is chairman of the parish council.

As the tale has unfolded on TV, IT company Fujitsu has come under fire for being the firm behind the Horizon accounting software that was used at the time by the Post Office.

The company has its UK headquarters in Lovelace Road.

READ MORE: Berkshire sub-postmaster 'in tears' after story shown in Mr Bates vs the Post Office

Now, Bracknell resident Mark John has launched a petition calling for those responsible to be brought to justice or for Fujitsu to leave the town altogether.

The petition states: “Please sign my petition if you don’t want this Japanese company having its UK headquarters dragging down our hometown… they must weed out the con artists or residents do not want them here.

“Imagine if your bank was going into your accounts and taking money from your total without it showing in your transactions.

“As depicted in the ITV X program, not only did Fujitsu do this but the whole rotten system allowed over 700 Post Office families to be accused of theft and forced them to pay the amounts or lose their livelihoods.

“For two the pain and frustration was so hard they took their lives.

“Even now those poor people STILL have not received justice under our joke of a British justice system skewed in blind favour of business and executives.”

Martin Griffiths committed suicide aged 59 in 2013 after being wrongly accused of stealing £60,000 while working at the Post Office in Ellesmere Port.

Peter Huxham. a post officer in Devon died in a suspected suicide aged 63 in a suspected suicide in 2022.

So far, 136 people have signed Mr John’s petition on Change.org.

You can sign the petition here. 

A spokesperson for Fujitsu did not answer calls for the company to move out of Bracknell.

However, the spokesperson did say: “The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory Inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.

“The Inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters’ lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering.

“Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the Inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it.

“Out of respect for the Inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.”

Fujitsu once occupied Globe House in Willoughby Road, Bracknell, but that office has been listed as permanently closed.