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Filed on behalf of the: Claimant/Part 20 Defendant
Witness: G Booth
Statement: 2
Exhibit:GJB2
Date made:8.11.2006
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE Claim No: HQ05X02706
QUEENS BENCH DIVISION
BETWEEN:-
POST OFFICE LIMITED
Claimant/Part 20 Defendant
-and-
LEE CASTLETON
Defendant/Part 20 Claimant
SECOND WITNESS STATEMENT OF GREGORY JOHN BOOTH
I, GREGORY JOHN BOOTH, of} — GRO I WILL SAY AS FOLLOWS:
1. Iam currently the Manager of the Newby Post Office branch, 401 Scalby Road, Scarborough. From
21 April 2004 to 28 May 2004 (just over 5 weeks) I was the temporary subpostmaster at 14 South
Marine Drive, Bridlington YO15 3DB (the Marine Drive branch).
2. I make this Witness Statement from facts within my own knowledge unless otherwise stated.
References to page numbers in this Witness statement are to page numbers of Exhibit "GJB2” to this
Witness Statement.
3. In my first witness statement I stated that whilst I was the temporary subpostmaster at the Marine
Drive branch, I remembered that there were no problems other than the usual minor run of the mill
problems you tend to experience with computers from time to time. In particular, there were no
instances of transactions being entered on the system and being lost. That remains correct.
4. However, I should add that whilst working at the Newby Post Office and since making my first
statement, I have experienced just one occasion where the computer froze and did not record a
transaction that was partially completed at the time. This happened on Wednesday 25 October 2006.
5. Every time that a new customer is served there is a new “session.” Each customer's transactions are
recorded in a “stack.” For each session:
(a) the quantity and product type is entered on the computer. This is repeated as necessary for
each transaction;
(b) the total net cost is shown on the screen;
(c) you press a button showing the total net cost and a menu appears showing the possible
methods of payment. You can select one or more methods of payment and enter the amount to
be paid by each method, or select a “fast cash” option which means that entire session’s
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transactions are to be paid for in cash. Once this process is completed, this settles the
transactions and the stack is cleared; and
(d) when the stack is cleared, the session is complete and all the transactions in that session are
recorded on to the database.
6. If the machine freezes before the transactions are settled and the stack is cleared, the information is
generally not recorded because the transactions have not been completed.
7. At about 1.15pm on Wednesday 25 October 2006, a customer wished to purchase a postage label for
£1.27. I entered the relevant details on to the computer, printed out the postage label and had taken
Payment. The computer froze before the session was settled and I had cleared the stack. This
meant that the information was not recorded. When I rebooted the system, I noticed that the
computer did not appear to show the transaction at all. I was not initially sure of the best way to
correct this, so I did not at the time re-enter the details on to the computer. This meant that the
Newby branch had a small gain of £1.27.
8. As far as I am aware, every Post Office branch is issued with the Horizon System User Guide (the
Guide). This is a voluminous reference guide which explains how to use Horizon (and deals with
issues such as administration, balancing and transactions). At pages 1 to 33 are an extract from the
Guide that give guidance on what to do in the event of a system failure. I note that:
MEA, Pie = NY;
(a) Transactions, Serve Customer (Part three), System Failure & recovery, subsection 10 (pages 1 to
2) sets out the procedure for completing transactions that were processed during a customer
session prior to it being settled. It states that you should check to see whether another
workstation is available and complete the transaction on the other workstation. Alternatively, it
suggests that the transaction is completed manually and that the user should complete the
recovery procedure when the Horizon System is restored. (Office Administration, Subsection
14 describes the recovery procedure, pages 18 to 22)
a1 -
(b) Office Administration, System Failure, Subsection 13 headed “Identifying lost transactions
following a system failure” (page 17) states that:
YEA, PR
“If the Horizon system fails for any reason transaction information may be lost. This could
either be information about a transaction that was in progress at the time of the failure or
information about transactions what were completed and which has become corrupted as
a result of the system failure.
As soon as the system is restored you must identify any lost transactions so that they can
be recovered correctly.
The system will prompt you for recovery of lost Automated Payments
Transactions...However, you will have to identify and recovery lost EPOSS and OBCS
transactions yourself using the procedure below.”
("EPOSS” stands for Electronic Point Of Sale Service, which is an application that enables
Postmasters to conduct general retail trade at the counter and sell products on behalf of their
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clients. OBCS stands for Order Book Control System. This was a computerised stop notice
system linked to Horizon which ceased following the demise of pension books in around May or
June 2005).
Broadly speaking, the Guide then states that a summary should be produced so that the user can
compare and reconcile this against the actual dockets concerned. Stock should be adjusted to
reflect the actual stock position and the user should enter on to the Horizon system any
transactions that have not been recorded because of the system failure.
(c) There are separate sections of the Guide dealing with the entering payment and receipt
transactions in bulk on the Horizon system after failure I (pdges cs to 6) and the recovery of APS
transactions I ges 23 to 33). The procedure is slightly different for Automated Payments
system* (ABS) transactions than to the procedure described above. This is because the Guide
explains that when you log on after a system failure, the AP Recovery screen is displayed with a
message which prompts you to recover outstanding APS transactions.
8. It is clear from the Guide that where the system fails part way through the type of transaction I was
performing, the system would not record it and that accordingly, I should have simply re-entered the
details of the transaction in accordance with the instructions in the Guide.
I believe that tf is witness statement are true.
70
2)
Signed
Date.....
612
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Filed on behalf of the: Claimant/Part 20 Defendar
Witness: G J Boot
Statement:
Exhibit:GJB.
Date made:8.11.200:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
Claim No: HQO05X02706
QUEENS BENCH DIVISION
BETWEEN:-
POST OFFICE LIMITED
Claimant/Part 20 Defendan'
-and-
LEE CASTLETON
Defendant/Part 20 Claimani
SECOND WITNESS STATEMENT OF GREGORY JOHN BOOTH
Bond Pearce LLP
Ballard House
West Hoe Road
Plymouth
PL 3AE
Ref: SJD3/348035.134
DX: 8251 Plymouth
Tel: +44(0)845 415 0000
Solicitors for the Claimant/Part 20 Defendant
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