suzuki2000
Well-known member
So, you forget your birthday its the governments fault? This is pathetic...
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...housands-of-ontario-drivers-on-road-illegally
Tens of thousands of Ontario drivers could be on the road illegally after the province failed to remind them to renew their driver’s licence and plates.
What’s being called a “unique” technical glitch prevented the provincial government from sending nearly 100,000 licence and plate renewal reminders to drivers who had birthdays in July.
About half of those drivers remembered to get their licence or plates renewed anyway. But those who didn’t, an estimated 50,000 drivers, were sent a letter dated July 30, telling them to get their paperwork in order as soon as possible.
Anne-Marie Flanagan, a spokeswoman for ServiceOntario, said the problem affected licence renewal notices that were supposed to be mailed out the week of April 23, 2014, to people with birthdays between roughly July 13 and 22.
She said small technical glitches affect handfuls of customers once in a while. “But I’m not aware of another situation that’s been similar to this one,” she said.
“I can confirm that it’s not a security breach, though,” she said.
ServiceOntario is the branch of the provincial government that deals with a range of licence-related services.
In Ontario, drivers need to renew their driver’s licences every five years and their licence plates every one or two years. Both expire on a driver’s birthday. The cost for a new licence is $80; a new plate sticker is $90 for one year. Driving with an expired driver’s licence or licence plates is illegal and can lead to tickets and fines.
The letter sent to drivers, signed by Jacques L’Abbé, assistant deputy minister of ServiceOntario’s central services division, said that “a technical issue with the production and distribution of renewal notice reminders for driver’s licences and vehicle licence plate stickers” was to blame for the absence of renewal notices.
The letter asked drivers to bring it to a ministry desk as soon as possible to get the “new or temporary documents required by law to operate a vehicle in Ontario.”
ServiceOntario usually mails drivers notices reminding them to renew their licences and plates a month or so before they expire. Flanagan said renewal notices are a “courtesy” and that the province is “not required” to send them out.
Flanagan couldn’t say how unusual it is to have 50,000 drivers with expired documentation because ServiceOntario doesn’t regularly check the total number of people who haven’t renewed. “That’s something we have to do on purpose,” she said.
She said ServiceOntario realized there had been an error when it started getting calls from some of the drivers affected by the technical glitch who hadn’t received renewal notices.
She said the problem, which was “quite technical and very detailed,” is fixed and that ServiceOntario had “put some new checks and balances” into the system to avoid future problems.
“We’ve put a system in place whereby if anything were to go wrong we would know right away and be able to correct it,” she said.
Flanagan said that “like with other government documents — for example passports — keeping documents and address information up-to-date is ultimately the responsibility of the individual.”
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...housands-of-ontario-drivers-on-road-illegally
Tens of thousands of Ontario drivers could be on the road illegally after the province failed to remind them to renew their driver’s licence and plates.
What’s being called a “unique” technical glitch prevented the provincial government from sending nearly 100,000 licence and plate renewal reminders to drivers who had birthdays in July.
About half of those drivers remembered to get their licence or plates renewed anyway. But those who didn’t, an estimated 50,000 drivers, were sent a letter dated July 30, telling them to get their paperwork in order as soon as possible.
Anne-Marie Flanagan, a spokeswoman for ServiceOntario, said the problem affected licence renewal notices that were supposed to be mailed out the week of April 23, 2014, to people with birthdays between roughly July 13 and 22.
She said small technical glitches affect handfuls of customers once in a while. “But I’m not aware of another situation that’s been similar to this one,” she said.
“I can confirm that it’s not a security breach, though,” she said.
ServiceOntario is the branch of the provincial government that deals with a range of licence-related services.
In Ontario, drivers need to renew their driver’s licences every five years and their licence plates every one or two years. Both expire on a driver’s birthday. The cost for a new licence is $80; a new plate sticker is $90 for one year. Driving with an expired driver’s licence or licence plates is illegal and can lead to tickets and fines.
The letter sent to drivers, signed by Jacques L’Abbé, assistant deputy minister of ServiceOntario’s central services division, said that “a technical issue with the production and distribution of renewal notice reminders for driver’s licences and vehicle licence plate stickers” was to blame for the absence of renewal notices.
The letter asked drivers to bring it to a ministry desk as soon as possible to get the “new or temporary documents required by law to operate a vehicle in Ontario.”
ServiceOntario usually mails drivers notices reminding them to renew their licences and plates a month or so before they expire. Flanagan said renewal notices are a “courtesy” and that the province is “not required” to send them out.
Flanagan couldn’t say how unusual it is to have 50,000 drivers with expired documentation because ServiceOntario doesn’t regularly check the total number of people who haven’t renewed. “That’s something we have to do on purpose,” she said.
She said ServiceOntario realized there had been an error when it started getting calls from some of the drivers affected by the technical glitch who hadn’t received renewal notices.
She said the problem, which was “quite technical and very detailed,” is fixed and that ServiceOntario had “put some new checks and balances” into the system to avoid future problems.
“We’ve put a system in place whereby if anything were to go wrong we would know right away and be able to correct it,” she said.
Flanagan said that “like with other government documents — for example passports — keeping documents and address information up-to-date is ultimately the responsibility of the individual.”
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