There was another system used called Richard Jackson which was devised by a SPMR in the North of the country. It used 3.5 inch floppy discs and was in a way better that than Capture as it could print out all the V11 and V10 MVL summaries.The only problem with the Jackson system is that it was a one person helpline and if he had finished his balance on a Wednesday you could not contact him. But as we had paper copies to fall back that was not much need to contact him.

To Steve Marston:
This appeared in Computer Weekly:—
"Rupert Lloyd Thomas, an IT expert who worked at the Post Office for 27 years, said that if the high hundreds, or even more than 1,000, PCs with Capture installed were sent to subpostmasters by Unisys from 1995, it could have been much more widely used.
“It was introduced three years earlier and the software could also be bought separately and installed on a home PC,” he added. “The total number of subpostmasters using Capture must have been north of 1,000.”
He said he wants to find a copy of the software so it can be investigated: “Somewhere out there is a floppy disk sitting in somebody’s cupboard with Capture on it, because it would reveal who the publisher was. It is important we get to the bottom of this because the people affected are older.”
A floppy disc has been found and is on its way to Karl Flinders at Computer Weekly. This should provide proof as to who wrote the software. You can reach me at rupertlt1@gmail.com
RGDS RLT

The Post Office response is effectively a nil report.
(There isn't, and never has been, a Post Office company called Royal Group.)
I wish to put the following on the record in support of an historic injustice — here are some facts which are indisputable:
The Capture software was launched in 1992.
There are numerous newspaper articles reporting the launch. Here are some examples:
Gloucestershire Echo, Wednesday 28 October 1992, Page 16
The Citizen (Gloucestershire), Thursday 29 October 1992, Page 17
The Cheddar Valley Gazette, Thursday 5 November 1992, Page 12
There was a further article in 1993:
Faversham Times, Wednesday 15 September 1993, Page 8
In 1995 the Post Office was issuing a newsletter, Focus, published by the Capture Team and sent to Subpostmasters:
Here are some quotes:
Focus, April 1995:
"C5O RELEASE
C50 went live to support
the change in Cash Account
year on Wednesday 22
March.
Inevitably with a new release
of software, a few hiccups
have been encountered and
these are detailed below for
your information."
"Pension and Allowances -
Double Entry Checking
There is an intermittant fault
whereby on amending the
value in Double Entry
Checking the system does
not always amend the
original value. This occurs
only on certain values
although these are not
consistent and so cannot be
amended at present. When
Double Entry Checking,
please ensure both sides of
the check screen match
before proceeding."
Ref Capture software release C65 (undated):
"SOFTWARE FAULTS
As this release is only updating the stock databases, it has not been possible to fix
any existing software faults. The next release, Capture C7O will be putting right
software faults and adding enhancements to the Program.
We have tried to ensure that Capture C65 is a stable release with no new faults.
Even so, as with the development of any new software application new releases do
tend to introduce their own problems.
Therefore if you notice any errors, or anything that you are not sure is correct, please
bring it to the attention of the Capture Help Desk."
Focus, September 1995:
"Our new software, Capture
II, was distributed to all
Capture MVL offices for
week commencing 7 August."
"However, following go-live
of the MVL offices, serious
problems -which did not
appear during either the
acceptance testing or trial
stages of the development
were reported by our
customers. In many cases,
this has meant that the office
has been advised to revert to
C50 and we continue to
advise this course if other
offices begin to experience
problems. If you are a
Capture II user and you are
not experiencing any
problems, you may continue
to use the new software if
you so wish. You are
advised, however, that it is
possible you may experience
data corruption problems.
Unfortunately, because a
large number of offices were
experiencing problems, this
has had a knock-on effect on
the HelpDesk. Where offices
are reverting to c50, the
average call has taken 25
minutes to resolve and this
has obviously caused delay
to customers in the call
waiting system."
Starting in 1995 the Capture hardware was supplied by Unisys, with software pre-loaded.

RGDS RLT

I wish to put the following on the record in support of an historic injustice:
Extracts from a COMPAQ press release, (Copyright (c) 1992, Business Wire), 17 November 1992:
"The Capture System, which allows up to 18,000 sub-postmasters throughout the U.K. to automate their
back-office accounting procedures, was introduced in September by Post Office Counters. Based on the
COMPAQ ProLinea PC, the Capture System's goal is to lighten the burden of administrative paper work,
freeing more of the agents' time to spend with their customers. Using the system, sub-postmasters -- who
are agents of POCL -- are able to automate their weekly cash account and daily and weekly summary reports
for major Post Office Counters' clients such as Girobank, National Savings Bank, DVLA and other
government agencies."
"The new Capture System is based on a COMPAQ ProLinea 3/25s, with 4MB of RAM and a 84MB hard disk
and includes Windows-based software specially designed by iT, the Post Office's information technology
business, as well as peripherals such as Star LC24-200 dot matrix printer, cabling, disks and stationery."
"The Capture system was installed in five locations -- Mansfield, Liverpool, Ipswich, Canterbury and
Sunderland -- in June. To promote the system, Post Office Counters has run a series of nationwide
roadshows, as well as developed promotional literature that explains the benefits of the system to
sub-postmasters. A recent survey suggested that 84 percent of sub-postmasters are interested in
computerizing their operations.
POCL is also responsible for providing the on-site training and support services, including a comprehensive
help desk facility, located at the Post Office's iT Headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire."

RGDS RLT

I wish to put the following on the record in support of an historic injustice:
Paisley Daily Express, Friday 6 November 1992, Page 10
Compaq's big deal
COMPUTERS made in
Erskine will be on display
behind post office counters
all over Britain.
For computer giants
Compaq, who are based at
Erskine have clinched a deal
to sell Post Office Counters
Ltd 1,000 top-of-the-range
machines over the next three
years.

RGDS RLT