When computers go wrong ...

I nearly fell off my chair this morning when I was handed an envelope containing a computer-generated letter from HMRC asking me to file a tax return for the tax year ending in April 2004.

Which was all the more astonishing given that, as the very helpful lady at HMRC confirmed when I rang to ask what was going on, I actually had filed such a return more than sixteen years ago when it was actually due (on 30th September 2004.)

It does appears to have been a computer error - which is to say, a mistake by a human computer programmer failing to allow for an unforeseen circumstance many years down the line.

I can laugh about it now but it was a bit of a shock when I opened the letter! 

 


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