Dear Comrades,
Customers said they were unable to post parcels and were told that staff could not deal with anything which required a computer.
The system went down this morning, hitting branches across the country.
A
Post Office spokesman said: "The Post Office apologises to its
customers for the inconvenience caused by a computer problem currently
affecting the service at branches across the UK.
"We are very
sorry for any difficulties this has caused our customers. We are doing
everything we can to fix the problem as quickly as possible and restore a
full service to all branches.
"Branches are making special cash
payments to Post Office Card Account customers. Post Office ATMs and
Post & Go services in branch are unaffected. Bill payments and
E-topups for mobile phones can be made at Paystation terminals in Post
Office branches."
Andy Burrows, of Consumer Focus, said: "We are
concerned that this is the fourth major service interruption in the Post
Office's electronic systems in nine months. We will be meeting with
Post Office Limited to understand how the problem will be addressed.
"The problems seem to be nationwide and have resulted in several
hours of inconvenience for Post Office customers. Most branches have
only been able to accept cash payments and do manual transactions such
as selling stamps.
"We have heard some branches have decided to close early for the
day - leaving customers without access to services. Customers need Post
Office services, including the collection of benefits and pensions, to
be reliable and resilient."
A Post Office spokesman said later:
"Post
Offices across the network are again working normally after a computer
problem which had earlier affected branches nationwide for several
hours. We apologise to all our customers for the service problems
experienced in our branches and the inconvenience this may have caused.
"Services have now fully been restored and customers are able to
complete all transactions across the Post Office network. We are
continuing to monitor the situation closely to make sure our services
remain available as normal.
"Post Office branches remained open and arrangements were put in
place to ensure that special cash payments were made to pensioners and
benefit claimants using the Post Office Card Account. Post Office ATMs,
Post & Go services and Paystation bill payment and E-top up
transactions were unaffected by this problem."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/computer-failure-hits-post-office-services-7468615.html
