| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident has happened again at one_organization:
- The incident occurred at Worcester city council's parking payment machines due to a software glitch [134147].
- The council had previously identified that card payments were not being taken from individuals' bank accounts since about 29 August, leading to overcharging when the payments were eventually processed [134147].
- The council had declared the problem resolved, but unauthorised payments were still being debited, indicating a recurring issue [134147].
- Worcester council issued a contractual breach notice to its parking contractor Flowbird and mentioned reviewing arrangements with the company, suggesting a history of issues with the contractor's software upgrades [134147].
(b) The software failure incident has happened again at multiple_organization:
- The incident affected numerous drivers in Worcester, with over 1,500 people estimated to have been overcharged due to the software glitch in the parking payment machines [134147].
- Various motorists reported being charged multiple times for parking fees, indicating a widespread issue with the software malfunction [134147].
- Customers who paid for parking using their bank cards rather than cash or the RingGo app were affected, showing a broader impact on individuals using card payments for parking [132785].
- The council leader mentioned that the company operating the machines had attempted a software upgrade that resulted in serious problems, implying a potential recurring issue with software upgrades across different organizations [132785]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident in Worcester's parking payment machines was attributed to a software glitch caused by a recent software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird. This glitch led to duplicate payments being taken out of people's accounts, with some individuals being charged multiple times for parking fees they had already paid. The council identified that the issue arose during mid-September when card payments for parking sessions were not processed as expected after a system upgrade [134147].
(b) The operation-related contributing factors to the software failure incident involved customers using their bank cards for parking payments, which resulted in unauthorized and multiple charges due to the software glitch. The glitch affected customers who had previously paid for parking using their bank cards rather than cash or the RingGo app. This operation-related issue led to customers being overcharged and experiencing financial hardship as a result of the repeated debits from their accounts [132785]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system, outside_system |
(a) within_system: The software failure incident in Worcester, where drivers were repeatedly debited by parking payment machines, was caused by a software glitch resulting from a software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird. The glitch led to duplicate payments being taken out of people's accounts, causing financial hardship to many individuals [134147, 132785].
(b) outside_system: The software failure incident was exacerbated by the fact that unauthorised payments were still being debited even after the council declared the problem resolved. This external factor of continued unauthorized debits from individuals' bank accounts contributed to the impact of the software failure incident [134147]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in Worcester, where drivers were repeatedly debited by parking payment machines, was primarily attributed to a software glitch caused by a software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird. The glitch resulted in unauthorised and duplicate payments being taken from individuals' bank accounts, leading to financial hardship for many affected individuals [134147, 132785].
(b) Human actions also played a role in the software failure incident. The council leader mentioned that the problems followed an upgrade to the machines, indicating that the decision to upgrade the software was a human action that led to the serious issues with the payment machines. Additionally, the company operating the machines was criticized for a poor response to the incident, suggesting that human actions in handling the situation contributed to the dissatisfaction and stress experienced by the affected individuals [132785]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident in Worcester, where drivers were overcharged for parking, was primarily attributed to a software issue rather than a hardware problem. The incident was caused by a software glitch introduced during a recent software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird [134147]. The software bug resulted in payments being duplicated, leading to multiple unauthorized charges on individuals' bank accounts [132785]. The company responsible for the parking machines had attempted a software upgrade that went wrong, causing serious problems with the payment processing [132785].
(b) The software failure incident was clearly identified as originating from software issues. The software bug introduced during the software upgrade led to the duplication of payments and unauthorized charges on individuals' bank accounts [134147]. The council and the parking contractor acknowledged that the problem was due to a software glitch and not a hardware issue [134147]. The software failure resulted in numerous drivers being overcharged and experiencing financial difficulties due to the repeated debits caused by the software glitch [132785]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident in Worcester related to the parking payment machines was non-malicious. The incident was attributed to a software glitch caused by a software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird [134147]. The company acknowledged that a software bug was introduced during the upgrade, leading to duplicated payments and financial hardships for affected individuals [134147]. The council and the company were working to fix the problem and ensure refunds for those wrongly charged [134147].
(b) The software failure incident was not malicious but rather a result of unintended consequences of a software upgrade, leading to duplicate payments and financial difficulties for users [134147]. The issue was described as a software glitch and not the fault of Worcester city council [134147]. The council and the company were focused on resolving the problem and providing refunds to those impacted by the error [134147]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions, accidental_decisions |
(a) The software failure incident in Worcester related to the parking payment machines was primarily due to poor decisions made during a software upgrade. The incident was caused by a software bug introduced during a recent software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird. This bug led to payments being duplicated, resulting in multiple unauthorized charges to individuals' bank accounts [134147]. The council identified that the issue arose after a software upgrade by Flowbird, which caused delayed payment files to be sent to the merchant service provider, leading to duplicate payments being taken from people's accounts [134147]. The council also issued Flowbird with a contractual breach notice due to the software glitch introduced during the upgrade [132785].
(b) Additionally, the software failure incident can also be attributed to accidental decisions or mistakes made during the software upgrade process. The council leader mentioned that the problems with the parking machines followed an upgrade to the software, indicating that the upgrade process had unintended consequences [132785]. Customers who had previously paid for parking using their bank cards were affected by the error, suggesting that the issue was not intentional but rather a result of unintended consequences of the software upgrade [132785]. The council pledged refunds to those affected by the incident, indicating that the errors were not deliberate but accidental [132785]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence, accidental |
(a) The software failure incident in Worcester, where drivers were overcharged multiple times for parking fees, was attributed to a software glitch caused by a software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird. The company acknowledged that a software bug was introduced during a recent software upgrade, leading to duplicated payments being taken from individuals' bank accounts [134147].
(b) The incident was described as an error with the payment machines that drained bank accounts, affecting numerous drivers in Worcester. The council leader mentioned that the problems followed an upgrade to the machines, indicating that the issue was accidental and not intentional [132785]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
(a) The software failure incident in the articles appears to be temporary. The incident was caused by a software glitch introduced during a recent software upgrade by the parking contractor Flowbird. This glitch led to duplicate payments being taken out of people's accounts, with some individuals being charged multiple times for parking fees they had already paid. The council and Flowbird were working to fix the problem quickly and process automatic refunds for those affected. Card payment options were disabled across council-run car parks, and refunds were promised to be arranged within a week [134147, 132785]. |
| Behaviour |
crash, omission, timing, value, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident in Worcester involving the parking payment machines led to a crash where the system lost state and did not perform its intended functions. Drivers reported being repeatedly debited by the machines, with some experiencing multiple charges for a single parking transaction, leading to financial hardship [134147, 132785].
(b) omission: The software failure incident also involved omission, where the system omitted to perform its intended functions at instances. Some motorists were charged for parking they never used or were charged weeks after the actual parking event, indicating instances where the system failed to function correctly [132785].
(c) timing: The timing of the software failure incident was also a factor. The system was reported to have performed its intended functions incorrectly but at the wrong time, such as debiting bank accounts multiple times for a single parking session, causing financial distress to the affected individuals [134147, 132785].
(d) value: The software failure incident resulted in the system performing its intended functions incorrectly, leading to financial losses for the drivers. For example, one individual had £610 drained from their bank accounts due to erroneous transactions caused by the software glitch [132785].
(e) byzantine: There is no specific mention of the software failure incident exhibiting a byzantine behavior in the articles.
(f) other: The software failure incident also led to other behaviors not covered by the options listed. This includes the system processing duplicate payments, causing unarranged overdrafts for individuals, and the disabling of payment card options in council-run car parks as a response to the incident [134147, 132785]. |