Gas Pumps Didn’t Work in New Zealand. Blame the Leap Year.

Like clockwork, leap years roll around every four years. But many companies are never quite prepared for it, with every Feb. 29 marred by glitches and malfunctions.

Computers have shut down, satellite navigation devices have failed and airport conveyor belts have refused to move luggage onto planes. This year, dozens of gas stations across New Zealand malfunctioned on Thursday, with car and truck drivers reporting problems filling up in the early hours of the morning.

“Motorists have been turning up and unable to get fuel,” said Julien Leys, a spokesman for Gull New Zealand, one of the companies whose gas pumps malfunctioned. “It’s been incredibly frustrating for our customers.”

Drivers were unable to pay for their fuel because the software used by payment terminals at gas pumps “couldn’t calibrate itself with the fact that this is the 29th of February,” he said.

The issue affected all unattended gas pumps across the country because all the fuel companies in New Zealand use one technology provider, Invenco, Mr. Leys said. Customers were able to fill up at manned service stations.

Z Energy and Allied Petroleum, two other fuel companies, confirmed outages at their stations.

Simeon Brown, New Zealand’s transportation minister, weighed in, telling the local news outlet RNZ that it was frustrating that the system failed to account for Feb. 29. “Leap years come around every four years and are nothing new,” he said.

“We clearly know about leap years,” said John Scott, the chief executive of Invenco. “We’ve been dealing with them for the last 20 to 30 years.”

The issue was a one-time occurrence caused by a software update made during the coronavirus pandemic, he said, adding that it had been fully resolved by about 7 p.m. local