Queues growing at service locations in South Australia

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Queues growing at service locations in South Australia

As victims of the Optus data breach scramble to protect their privacy, Queues are growing at South Australian licensing locations, but the government has urged people to be patient.

The South Australia government has announced yesterday it will be waiving the fee for people who needed to replace their drivers licences as a result of the data leak, which exposed a large number of customers' personal details, including their licence and passport numbers.

South Australians need to visit one of 21 Service SA locations around the state to change their licence numbers.

A Fleurieu Peninsula woman, who did not wish to be named, said she spent three hours making a trip to the nearest Service SA location in Seaford Meadows to change her drivers license number.

She said when I first drove past the Service SA building, the queue was out of the door.

It took 40 minutes to get in.

The staff did a good job. The driver's license number was changed immediately. The South Australian government was left to foot the bill for Optus's mistake, and the response so far was pretty lacking in effect, according to the woman.

The elderly people would not be able to travel 53 km to a Service SA location. She said she felt stuck in a contract with Optus, which she would have to pay more than $1,000 to get out of.

Rayleen was one of the Optus hack victims who tried to change her drivers licence details at the Service SA Sefton Plaza location.

When you open your house, you lock all your doors, shut all your front doors and put your alarm on, she said.

But what Optus has done to us, they haven't even locked the front door. Chris McArdle, Department for Transport and Infrastructure service delivery manager, urged people to be patient.

Our Marion, Elizabeth and Seaford Meadows centres are very busy at the moment, but all centres are suffering from high loads and we're working quickly to manage those, he said.

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, the chief executive of the Optus, said the carrier was working with authorities to retrieve customers' data.

She said that we've been working with all licensing authorities to see what can be done to reissue licences in the case where they believe that's necessary.