Many thanks to RAF96 for your post - you are correct in saying that I had the plug reversed. I didn't dare trying to reverse it as I feared I may wreck the decoder but it seems not to be the case, as it explains in the link that you provided. I have now managed to get my NCE Power to accept the decoder and all will hopefully be OK.
My only defence for being naive is that the diagram in the Hornby Instruction leaflet bears no resemblance to what you actually get and it also points out that PIN 1 marked with the white dot should match with a symbol on the socket - but the only symbol on the socket is on the side adjacent to the blank pins. DCC ready it says on the box - more like not quite ready methinks.
In between times I contacted the retailer of the loco (must be a decoder issue says they), contacted the retailer of the decoder (contact Hornby says they) looked at Hornby website (cannot provide assistance for items not purchased from their website and thus refer to the retailer says they).
So thank you for putting me right - I am very grateful.