Bug lists babies as aged 100

BY A STAFF REPORTER

THOUSANDS of newborn babies have been listed officially as 100 years old. Computers at English register offices are refusing to recognise the year as 2000 and are printing 1900 on birth certificates. The millennium bug in computer software has meant that staff are writing birth certificates by hand with a promise to parents that a printed certificate will be sent later. New software is being sent to all 382 register offices.

A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics said last night: "We have found a problem with the software which was affecting the date. It has meant that printed birth certificates have not been available. Births are still being collated in each register office's main records book, but a copy cannot be printed on the computer."

The problem has not affected offices in Wales and Scotland, which have different systems. With an average of more than 600,000 births in England a year, the problem could have affected registrations of 25,000 babies in the first two weeks of this month.

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times/timnwsnws01034.html?999

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 17, 2000