GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA - Thousands of motorists nationwide have been unable to pay their traffic summonses as the central computer server at the Federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman has been off-line since Monday.

The server, which crashed on Monday, is unlikely to be restored until tomorrow.

Federal traffic police chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof told The Star that the system, which hosts the entire country's traffic summons database, experienced a "memory crash" due to heavy load.

"A technical team has been deployed to rectify the problem as soon as possible."

Over the past few days, those who turned up at traffic police stations nationwide to pay their summonses were turned away.

Despatch worker Badrul Hisham Ishak, 29, was disappointed as he was unable to pay his traffic summons at the George Town police district headquarters because of the interruption: "I have come all the way from Sungai Nibong just to pay my summons. Hopefully the system will be back to normal soon."

Another traffic offender, who declined to be named, said he spent the last few days trying to settle his outstanding traffic summons but was turned away each time.

"I just hope the police would not penalise me for late payment as I have tried to settle my summons in time," he said.

SAC II Abdul Aziz added the police realised there was a problem when they were unable to process the payments for the summonses.

He said those who failed to renew their road tax and driving licence due to this problem would be given some leeway.

SAC II Abdul Aziz said he had spoken to the Road Transport Department but motorists must get a written verification from the nearest police station for their claim when renewing their driving licence or road tax later.

A traffic policeman said he anticipated a "major headache" when the system returns to normal.

"We will have a backlog of traffic summonses to key into the computer system. We also anticipate a long queue of traffic offenders trying to settle their summonses," SAC II Abdul Aziz said.

--The Star/ANN