http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-179435893 May 2012 Last updated at 20:55
UK Border Agency ID card system crashes
The UK Border Agency turned hundreds of people away from a key office after the major foreign national ID card computer system shut down.
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The Home Office operates a system of issuing biometric residence permits to foreign nationals and has distributed more than 600,000 of the ID cards since they were created almost four years ago.
The system does not cover foreign nationals who were legally resident in the UK before the launch.
One applicant whose visa appointment had been cancelled told the BBC that people were sobbing at the identity card centre as officials tried to explain the situation to them.
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