EXACTLY 10 years after the "Y2K bug" was expected to crash computers worldwide, Far Northern traders have been hit by a Queensland bank's own timewarp glitch.
As the rest of Australia welcomed 2010, Bank of Queensland computers skipped six years ahead to January 1, 2016.
Yesterday, credit and debit card transactions were being rejected, with "card expired" messages printing on to Eftpos error receipts dated six years into the future.
Cairns business owner Barry Jones said the glitch was costing sales at his Shields St T-shirt and souvenir shop, Sharky’s, with his main customers – tourists – reliant on the Eftpos service.
"A lot of people from overseas don’t carry Australian currency, it’s just cards," Mr Jones said.
He said he spent 45 minutes yesterday morning listening to the bank helpline’s hold messages, while also serving customers, before giving up on getting through to an operator.
John Collingwood, owner of Kuranda’s Australis Art Gallery, said he was worried about weekend trade after bank staff told him they did not know how long the problem would take to fix.
"I’m very worried about Saturday and Sunday because if nothing gets done it’s going to be a big problem," he said.
"We just can not do any transactions."
A Bank of Queensland spokesperson said it was aware of the issues with the "time and date stamp".
"We are working with our service providers to address the issues as a priority," she said.
A customer service operator confirmed the glitch was caused by software skipping six years and said all Bank of Queensland Eftpos machines in Australia were affected.
She said troubleshooters were "working on" the problem, but had no estimate on when the problem would be fixed.
