Former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses have clashed on live TV with postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake - as they told how the Post Office Horizon scandal has "wrecked" their lives.
Eight former sub-postermasters and sub-postmistresses opened up about their experience to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning, along with the son of a former worker.
They were joined by Mr Hollinrake, who they quizzed on when remaining wrongful convictions will be overturned and compensation will be paid out.
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to set out how the Government will exonerate hundreds of subpostmasters accused of swindling money as a result of flawed Futjitsu-made computer system 'Horizon'.Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Hollinrake revealed 980 people had been convicted amid faults in the system.
Former sub-postmistress Sally Stringer demanded swift answers, telling Mr Hollinrake on BBC Breakfast: "This is one of the worst miscarriages of justice this country has seen.
"I want answers. I trust the [government] inquiry to find the answers but I am also asking you, in an election year, what are you as the government are intending on doing about it?
"Most of the people who have suffered on this need their compensation. And they have had long enough, frankly. You need to get it sorted soon."
Ms Stringer was not convicted by the Post Office, but spent £50,000 of her own money making up a shortfall in accounts due to the flawed IT system.
Mr Hollinrake responded: "We can more rapidly deliver compensation to you and others aside form the enquiry, and we're keen to do that, and hopefully that will be part of the announcement we make this week.
"But in terms of individual responsibility or organisational responsibility, our position, and I support this, is that we let the enquiry do its work and then we identify those responsible.
"And then we impose sanctions on those responsible, whether it be prosecutions or asking people to contribute to the taxpayers' bill for compensation."
He added that plans to clear the names of hundreds of Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal will be announced "very soon", saying: "It will be this week".
The government has said plans to clear the names of Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted in the scandal will be announced “imminently”, after ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought the scandal into the spotlight.
Other former Post Office workers told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday how the Horizon scandal left them in financial ruin and facing the hatred of their local communities.
Among them was Tom Hedges, who ran a Post Office in Skegness from 1994, until he was convicted of stealing £23,000.
His conviction was later overturned, but he said: "Frankly it wrecked my life, my family's life, and everybody I know's life.
"It was the most horrendous thing I've ever been through. I was very lucky in on way. I didn't go bankrupt like a lot of the other people, and I just feel very privileged to sit here this morning and address the nation because of the wonderful TV that ITV have produced."
Varchas Patel's father ran a Post Office in Oxfordshire until he was wrongfully prosecuted in 2011.
"His health is completely shattered and he's not yet received compensation," Mr Patel told BBC Breakfast.
He told how 'wanted dead or alive' posters featuring his father's photo were circulated in his father's local community, following his conviction.
"There was intimidation," he said. "At one point [local people] even built a four-foot cross, they placed a wreath on that, outside the shop on the village green, carved in 'RIP Vipin', right outside our shop.
"They effectively saw my father as a 'Post Office robber'."
Maria Lockwood, from Huddersfield, told how she was forced to pay back £30,000 amid the scandal, and her contract was terminated.
Alison Hall said: "I ran a Post Office in Hightown, Liversedge, West Yorkshire until I was suspended in 2010, over a shortfall of nearly £15,000. I admitted to a false accounting charge but it was overturned three years ago."
Mohammed Rasul said: "I worked for the Post Office for 27 years and then I was convicted of false accounting, had to wear a tag for three months, and had a suspended sentence for 12 months.
"I have carried the shame ever since. I refuse to carry it any longer."
Scott Darlington, who ran Alderly Edge Post Office in Cheshire for four years, until he was suspended in 2009. He was convicted in 2010.
"I couldn't get a job for three-and-a-half years after that," he said.
"I couldn't afford to pay for my daughter's school uniform, I suffered awful stigma and embarrassment and financial distress ever since, and I'm glad that things have come to a head and we're able to speak about it now."
He told how he felt forced into pleading guilty to fraudulent activity."I wanted to plead not guilty but I was advised to plead guilty because I didn't have all the information," he said. "The Post Office held all the cards.
"The barrister said to me if you plead not guilty you're probably going to go to prison.
"So I had to pleaded guilty. So then I'm in the newspapers as pleading guilty, so I just presumed everybody thought I'd had my hands in the till."
Rishi Sunak will face MPs for Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday lunchtime, amid pressure to set out how the Government will tackle the long-running scandal.
Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said the Government was “very, very close” to announcing its plans,.
He said it could come in the form of a mass overturning of convictions, rather than dealing with convictions on a case-by-case basis, which would be slower.
“We’re very, very close,” he said, refusing to “speculate” as to whether an announcement might come as soon as Wednesday afternoon.
