diff --git a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/reader.py b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/reader.py
index cb9370fd206440de37f31bdbaae7218f71470726..eb1594540554b443ec232bee33ffbc67a1cb4722 100644
--- a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/reader.py
+++ b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/reader.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ class statistics_data:
 
     # we will be creating potentially tens of thousands of these object. Using __slots__ makes them faster and uses less memory. At the cost of
     # having to list all self attributes here.
-    __slots__ = ("version_id", "timestamp", "station_id", "source_info_t_adc", "source_info_subband_calibrated_flag", "source_info_payload_error",
+    __slots__ = ("version_id", "station_version_id", "writer_version_id", "timestamp", "station_id", "source_info_t_adc", "source_info_subband_calibrated_flag", "source_info_payload_error",
                 "source_info_payload_error", "source_info_payload_error", "source_info_nyquist_zone_index", "source_info_gn_index",
                 "source_info_fsub_type", "source_info_beam_repositioning_flag", "source_info_antenna_band_index", "source_info__raw",
                 "observation_id", "nof_statistics_per_packet", "nof_signal_inputs", "nof_bytes_per_statistic", "marker", "integration_interval_raw",
@@ -169,6 +169,10 @@ class statistics_data:
         # get all the general header info
         self.version_id = file[group_key].attrs["version_id"]
         self.station_id = file[group_key].attrs["station_id"]
+        
+        # get software version info
+        self.station_version_id = file[group_key].attrs["station_version_id"]
+        self.writer_version_id = file[group_key].attrs["writer_version_id"]
 
         # convert string timestamp to datetime object
         self.timestamp = datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(file[group_key].attrs["timestamp"])
diff --git a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/writer/hdf5.py b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/writer/hdf5.py
index b05220fda4008e44e7f946a518070a60ce29563d..a22c909fd5ec461e449094003297c1adbda9e451 100644
--- a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/writer/hdf5.py
+++ b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/statistics/writer/hdf5.py
@@ -36,14 +36,14 @@ __all__ = [
 
 def _get_lsc_version() -> str:
     """ Retrieve the Lofar Station Control software version """
-    filepath = os.path.join(os.environ.get('LOFAR20_DIR'), 'tangostationcontrol/VERSION')
+    filepath = os.path.join(os.path.realpath('../'), 'tangostationcontrol/VERSION')
     with open(filepath) as f:
         version = f.readline().strip()
     return version or ""
 
 def _get_writer_version() -> str:
     """ Retrieve the Statistics Writer software version """
-    filepath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '/VERSION')
+    filepath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'VERSION')
     with open(filepath) as f:
         version = f.readline().strip()
     return version or ""