Confusion, frustration for many caught in outage in Singapore

Motorists were stuck at carparks – some for as long as 20 minutes – when electronic gantries stopped working, while many others found themselves logged out of their computer systems when a major global technology outage hit on July 19.

- Osmond Chia

It was not all bad, though, with some deciding to call it a day and start their weekend early.

Freelance writer Allyson Thomas, 50, and her husband sat in their car in Toa Payoh for about 20 minutes while waiting for the carpark gantry barrier to be lifted.

Repeated calls to the carpark operator went unanswered. Islandwide, nearly 200 carparks were affected. Eventually, an employee from carpark operator Wilson Parking arrived to rescue them. He explained that he had to rush to release more gantries, said Ms Thomas, who added: “I can’t imagine how many he must have had to go to today.”