PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Some Floridians said that their legal driver’s licenses don’t scan in the Transportation Security Administration lines at airports.
During a “Let’s Hear It” meeting in Royal Palm Beach, where WPTV NewsChannel 5 is based, the problem was brought up.
Ron Friedman of Boca Raton told WPTV about a trip that almost didn’t happen because his valid license wouldn’t scan at the TSA security checkpoint before a flight to New York state.
Friedman said, “At first, it was frustrating.”
Friedman said that a TSA worker told him to get a written boarding pass from the airline ticket counter when his license didn’t read.
Friedman says that his boarding pass and driver’s license, which wouldn’t read, let him get past the security station.
He said the same thing happened on his way back to Florida from New York.
Friedman said, “These driver’s licenses were just given to us.” “So, I’m thinking that maybe there’s something wrong with the issue of it.”
It turned out that Friedman wasn’t the only one whose license was in trouble.
It’s a problem all over the state, even in Palm Beach County.It hasn’t been easy to figure out what the problem is with the rights.
“We have no idea,” Anne Gannon, the tax collector for Palm Beach County, said. “All we know is that once it started happening, the vendor was told, and they came up with a way around it.”
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles gives the tools that print licenses to the local tax workers.
In an email, a representative told WPTV:
“Sometimes, people have problems with the bar code on the back of their driver’s license, but it doesn’t happen very often.”
For now, each county tax collector’s office will get a hand-held reader. They will be used to check the number on the license before it is given to the customer. This adds an extra step to offices that are already very busy.
“What it really does is add time to the transaction, which makes our wait line even longer,” Gannon said.
Gannon and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles did not say how many license users have been impacted.
Gannon says that about 52% of the work done in the tax collector’s office is with licenses.
Friedman hopes that his next trip, which will be a cruise from Miami, will go better.
Friedman said, “I’m very upset that I tried to solve this with normal means.” “So, I’m happy and proud that a TV station like WPTV is willing to take this on.”
Friedman said that he had to pay $15 to get a copy of his card.
A representative for Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said that if a Florida license doesn’t scan, it will be duplicated for free.
