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Alan Bates branded his compensation offer "cruel"

By Sima Kotecha, Tom Brooks-Pollock & Jeremy Culley

BBC Newsnight and BBC News

Alan Bates wrote to the government criticising the speed of Post Office scandal compensation payouts - just days before he was made an offer.

The former sub-postmaster, whose story sparked an ITV drama, said in a 22 January letter seen by BBC Two's Newsnight that the scheme needed a "radical boot up the backside".

He said he received a "cruel" compensation offer on Wednesday.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has vowed to look into his complaint.

In the letter to Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake, Mr Bates said claims from some victims were being processed too slowly.

Mr Bates, whose own offer was received 111 days after his claim was submitted, wrote: "This is certainly not in the best interests of the victims in the group who continually look for closure of the painful events they have endured which continue to drag on year after year."

He suggested the firm assessing claims for the government should pay a £1,000-a-day penalty to the victim in question if they had not received an offer within 40 days.