By editorial@silicon.com, 8 January 1999 00:20
NEWS The French Embassy in London has admitted that a systems crash at the French national post office was partly due to problems arising from the euro conversion. Riot police were called to calm angry savers at the Marseilles branch of La Poste, after they were unable to access their accounts on Monday and Tuesday. A French Embassy spokesman admitted: "One reason for the failure was the euro change". The system has experienced several problems since extensive euro conversion work was carried out last weekend. The spokesman highlighted other reasons for the breakdown: "The early closing of accounts over Christmas has also contributed. There have been two long weekends in a row." He also blamed unusually heavy demand from people trying to access their accounts. "Lots of people wanted to see what a bank account in euros looks like," he said. A spokesman at La Poste said the crisis is now over and "everything is back to normal". The French Embassy said it was only aware of "problems with La Poste savings accounts" and could not confirm whether unemployment benefit, child allowance or income support payments had been affected.
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