Britain’s Post Office scandal – level 1

Britain s Post Office scandal

16-01-2024 15:00

Britain’s Post Office has a big problem. Between 1999 and 2015, they wrongly blame people for stealing money.

The IT system makes a mistake. It says that there is not enough money in post offices. People who run small post offices must pay this money. But they do nothing wrong. The Post Office does not accept the mistake. This causes even more problems. The Post Office blames over 3,500 people. 900 get a penalty. Some people get sick, lose friends, and even families break up. A few people take their own lives. Finally, in 2019, a court says that they are not guilty. There is a TV show about this problem. People get angry again. The government does something. Now, they will say sorry and pay money to those hurt people. But this may not be the end of the problem.

Difficult words: blame (to say that someone does something wrong), steal (to take something what does not belong to you and keep it), guilty (the person who does something wrong).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.

What are some consequences that resulted from the Post Office wrongly blaming people for stealing money and how is the government attempting to address this issue?

LEARN 3000 WORDS with NEWS IN LEVELS

News in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.

How to improve your English with News in Levels: 

Test

  1. Do the test at Test Languages.
  2. Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.

Reading

  1. Read two news articles every day.
  2. Read the news articles from the day before and check if you remember all new words.

Listening

  1. Listen to the news from today and read the text at the same time.
  2. Listen to the news from today without reading the text.

Writing

  1. Answer the question under today’s news and write the answer in the comments.

Speaking

  1. Choose one person from the Skype section.
  2. Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.

 

Stock images by Depositphotos