Sir Alan Bates has warned that the new compensation scheme..

Sir Alan Bates has told Sky News that the government's new Capture Redress Scheme is "incomplete."

Post Office scam campaigners, who may also be victims of Capture, have accused officials of failing to learn from previous compensation failures.

Capture was a faulty computer software used in approximately 2,500 branches between 1992 and 1999, before the infamous Horizon scandal.

Many sub-postmasters fabricated potentially false accounting errors out of their own pockets, and at least dozens were convicted of theft.

Sir Alan welcomed the launch of the first Capture Redress Scheme last week as "general."

However, he added: "It does seem to have gone off half-baked with almost none of the lessons that should have been learnt from the failures of the other Postmaster Schemes having been applied when compiling it."

Sir Alan Bates, who has settled his redress claim with the government in relation to Horizon, has also confirmed that he may be a victim of capture.

He said: "I have documentation which shows that a PC running Capture was part of the inventory when we purchased our sub-post office and I know it was used until it was replaced by the infamous Horizon system toward the end of 2000."

Despite this, Sir Alan said that - with the information he has about the scheme and making a claim - "it does seem I may not be able submit one".

Under current rules, it appears that claimants must submit a fully detailed claim before the Department for Trade and Commerce (DBT) can decide whether they are eligible – a process Sir Alan described as "madness."

"We could spend a year preparing a claim, but DBT would say we weren't eligible in the first place."

He called for a two-step process: first confirming eligibility, then allowing victims to make their case with legal aid – a model he believes would save time and money and avoid unnecessary legal costs.

The revelation that Sir Alan may have been a victim of Capture – and only found out later – raises new concerns about how many others are still unaware.

In a statement to Sky News, a government spokesperson said: "After more than two decades of fighting for justice, victims will finally receive compensation for those affected by Capture software, and we pay tribute to all those who worked to expose this scam." "All eligible applicants will receive an interim payment of £10,000. In exceptional circumstances, the independent panel may award amounts exceeding £300,000, with no limit.

"We have been in contact with Sir Alan's legal representative and stand ready to provide further information to help all claimants."

It comes as documents seen by Sky News suggest that the Post Office knew about faults in Capture computer software before it was rolled out in 1992.

Notes from a meeting of "the Capture steering group" held in February - months before the system was introduced to branches - described files as being "corrupted".

It highlighted that: "If the power was switched off when a file was open it would be corrupted. In this situation data should be checked and reinput."

Another error mentioned in the meeting notes was that if “any part of the system was shut down early to prepare the customer summary, additional transactions for that day could not be recorded”.

"If a high error rate was detected the software would need to be reworked."

A document called "Capture Troubleshooting Guide" from April 1993 - over a year after the steering group noted faults - again described "corrupt data" such as incorrect transaction values.

It concluded that the "cause" of this was "switching off the computer or a power cut (even if only for a few seconds) whilst in the Capture programme".

It also put forward instructions to remedy the fault.

Rupert Lloyd-Thomas, campaigner for Capture victims, said: "The Post Office knew ... in 1992, long before the launch, that Capture could be zapped by a power cut.

"They did nothing about it."