I am going to write to the airline as I think the seriousness of this incident warrants it.
I agree that the DofT&S is a bit of a paper tiger as I have had numerous dealings with them before. However, they do look at trends and behaviour.
I have no doubt that the majority of these incidents are dealt with quickly and professionally, in fact this one was in the end.
However, the error made caused considerable distress to a lot of passengers (myself included) and could (and should) have been avoided.