WITNO7010100
WITNO7010100
Witness Name: Carl Hunt
Statement No.: WITNO7010100
Dated: [ AR\ %,_ 12023
POST OFFICE HORIZON IT INQUIRY
FIRST WITNESS STATEMENT OF CARL HUNT
1, Carl Hunt, will say as follows...
1.
I started working at ICL in 2000 and worked there until 2001, ICL became part
of Fujitsu Services during this time. I was employed permanently by ICL who
contacted me through a recruitment agency. My job title was Horizon System
Helpdesk Advisor, 1st line support. I progressed to 2nd line support during my
time employed there.
. When I started, we received 2 weeks training on the Horizon System, from
memory there was 8 of us on the course, the training was thorough, given by
a training specialist. After this initial training we were paired with a qualified
HSH agent, receiving on the job training before dealing with enquiries direct
from post masters etc ourselves.
. On an average day we would receive calls from post office staff requiring
guidance on such things as being shown the route how to sell tv licence on
the system, we had a system available to us in the office so we could assist
easier and better. We could not log onto their account, however. We
Page 1 of 3
WITNO7010100
WITNO07010100
preformed things such as password resets. For technical/software issues we
were unable to resolve we passed these onto 2nd line support for further
investigation. On Wednesdays we worked a longer day as this was the Post
Office balance day. Later on a Wednesday we would assist in postmasters
balancing their system, a lot of postmasters and mistresses reported they had
never really touched a computer in their life previously so were a bit lost so
some calls could take over an hour to assist but this was fine from out
viewpoint. If balance calls were beyond our limitations of help we passed on
to a group called Peritas, these people were brought into the office on a
Wednesday only, as balance specialists, I think they had some kind of
freelance arrangement.
. When I was 2nd line support, I spent less time taking calls but more time
resolving issues passed to our team, be they software or suspected software
issues and things such as system not communicating for whatever reason.
Any calls we couldn't resolve were mainly passed to the next line of support
(rim team).
. To assist us we had a horizon system ourselves in the office, supervisors who
you could go etc.
. The management structure was pretty relaxed, that’s how I saw it after
previous places I had worked. On a personal level I tried to give as much
assistance as possible and believe my colleagues did, there was a culture
Page 2 of 3
where we wanted to help as I recall 21 years from my time there. It was a new
desk when I started and thus seemed a willingness to help.
7. There were no bugs as far as I can recall on the system, but 3rd line support
would be better placed to confirm this.
Statement of Truth
I believe.
Signed
Dated
Page 3 of 3
WITNO7010100
WITNO7010100