I don't wish to make light of Her Majesty's Customs & Revenue's unfortunate loss of the national Child Benefit database, but as cock-ups go, it’s certainly a big ‘un. As an exercise in damage-limitation, it also raises that all-important question: when to blow the gaff? A similar – though smaller-scale – incident took place many years back when I worked for Clarke-Hooper. A trainee Account Exec was entrusted with the task of sending some £3,000 worth of Tesco vouchers to a pub that had won an incentive scheme. She efficiently popped them in the first-class post before anyone could so much as mention the word ‘Recorded’… never mind ‘Registered’. Suitably chastised, early next morning she phoned the winner to explain her predicament, and ask would they let her know as soon as they received them.
Yes – you’ve guessed. No delivery. We waited a week, two weeks… nothing. Eventually we had to replace the vouchers at our own cost (this time by courier, helmets and all). What we did get right, however, was immediately to inform our client, and Tesco. At least we had a record of the missing serial numbers.
And – yes, correct again – not long after, we received the news that a person had been apprehended at the tills at a Tesco store, trying to buy up its entire stock of spirits with the missing vouchers.
Ah – but did you guess who? Well – the store was spookily near to the winning pub… and the person bang to rights… ? None other than the winning publican!
Very naughty.
So – the moral of the story: think hard before you lift the lid on the affair. Evidently the bank details of half the families in Britain were posted on 18th October… we got to hear of it over a month later on 20th November. That strikes me as one very sensible decision. And if the files do fall into the wrong hands, let’s just hope it’s that dumb publican.
