NSW government apologises for emergency closure of its Service NSW centre at Wallsend

A spokesperson for Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello confirmed the problem and the response after Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery criticised the government for failing to tell the public what happened.

Ms Hornery said Service NSW had an active Facebook page and Twitter feed it could have used to warn customers that the Wallsend centre had been closed. She said the only confirmation of the "temporary" closure was "buried deep down" on the Service NSW web page, in a section listing opening hours for each centre.

"I was contacted yesterday by people whose licences were due to expire and they were unable to renew them and would have to get taxis to Services NSW at Warners Bay this morning instead," Ms Hornery said.

Service NSW apologised for any inconvenience and said technicians were expected to work throughout Wednesday night to fix the problems.

The minister's spokesperson said a blockage in the air-conditioning led to "significant water damage" to "critical communications infrastructure" in the building's equipment room.

He said the system's "uninterruptible power supply" or UPS was damaged and replaced yesterday morning, while a new internet router was due to be installed last night.

The Wallsend centre typically served about 330 visitors a day. Warners Bay received about 700 visitors a day, Newcastle 350 and Toronto about 300.

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