00:00For the third consecutive business day, the system at the licensing office in Port of Spain completely crashed,
00:07leaving hundreds of people desperate to escape hefty fines with no alternative.
00:13I came here yesterday for renewal. The system booked an appointment, did everything.
00:21The system crashed at around 3 p.m. and they had told everyone who was waiting in line,
00:28even with the appointment, to come back tomorrow, tomorrow which is today.
00:33Today we came back, right? I've been here since 3.30 in the morning and right now the system is down again.
00:43And even for the people who was here yesterday who would not have had to pay any late fees,
00:49they are now questioning people who was here yesterday, telling them that they need to pay the late fee.
00:54Even the elderly were not spared, as after waiting for hours, persons over 60 were advised to come back tomorrow.
01:03When I would tell me, I was in the line, a lot of people, they have crew over 60, they already take up a batch and they're dealing with it.
01:12So by the time they finish, they go, come back and take up an extra batch of people over 60.
01:18So if I want, I could just, I'll take a break, I'll probably get something to eat or something and come back.
01:24Can I come back? But now the system is down and the officer tells me, well, since my expiry date is in the middle of the month,
01:32I could come back to use the backlog now.
01:35So you have to come back another time again?
01:38Yeah, I'd rather come back. I make sure I have to remember medical and everything for you to say.
01:43Unacceptable is how one man describes the situation. He's calling for proper planning on the authorities' part.
01:52They have a problem on the driver's permit side where a cashier came out or a fluke came out and said that the system went down.
02:01So people could come back tomorrow or they could wait to see if it comes back up.
02:04All right. So that, that speaks to a rushed system.
02:10Cannot take the amount of people out here and plenty they didn't do any stress testing.
02:14All right. And these are the basic things they need to do in, I mean, in 2025.
02:18So if you're going to put a system in place to handle thousands of people, you know it's going to be coming.
02:23You plan for this for a while.
02:25Those in charge ought to have done some stress testing so that it could handle this,
02:28as well as to have some sort of a backup system to deal with it.
02:31Because if the government is serious about getting revenue, by any means necessary, apparently,
02:36they're supposed to have the basics in place to let people come in and get out quickly to get back to their life.
02:41Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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