Justice Ministry apologises after fines text mistakenly sent to thousands of people

The Ministry of Justice has apologised after a text message about fines was mistakenly sent to thousands of people.

It said a system error caused the message to be sent.

The text was delivered on Monday afternoon with the words “Amount $135.00″.

The bank account details of the ministry, a fines reference number and the surname of the person receiving the message was also included.

Anyone who paid money they didn’t owe will be refunded and anyone unsure of what to do can contact the ministry’s contact centre on 0800 434 637 (0800 4 FINES).

In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said: “We sometimes send text messages to people who owe fines. In this case a system error meant a message went to approximately 8000 people. Some people would have received the same message up to eight times.

“We want to apologise for any confusion or distress this has caused. We also want to reassure people that their personal information has not been shared, and that the issue has been resolved.”