A design fault in Queensland’s mobile phone and seatbelt cameras has left almost 2000 people incorrectly fined and more than 600 drivers losing their licence.

State Transport Minister Mark Bailey said on Friday he learned of the blunder on Wednesday, with his department requesting urgent legal advice.

He said double demerits points were incorrectly issued for 1842 drivers from November 1, 2021, to August 31 this year, while 626 licences had been wrongly suspended.

“Simply put, this should never have happened,” Mr Bailey said.

“I’m very sorry to every person who has been impacted by this.

“I can assure them that the Department of Transport and Main Roads will commence notifying all impacted licence holders from today.”

The glitch was picked up in a routine analysis of department trends.

Affected drivers can call a 24-hour hotline, the details of which are on the Queensland Transport and Main Roads website.

Laws targeting drivers using their mobile phones were introduced in Queensland in July 2021, with almost 1800 people snapped offending in the cameras’ first week.

Cameras were installed across the state and went live after a July-October trial that year.

Mr Bailey said 632 people were serving incorrect good behaviour periods and 236 people had previously served incorrect good behaviour periods.

Some 43 interstate or overseas licence holders were incorrectly suspended from driving in Queensland.

“There will be a full and urgent independent review of this matter,” Mr Bailey said.

“This is our mistake and we will do everything we can to work with impacted people.

“This shouldn’t have happened. I’m very angry about it.”

The department will consider compensation as part of the review.

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the error was a “big deal” that was costing taxpayers.

“We are seeing a breakdown in service delivery across the state, across multiple portfolios, and no one has been held accountable,” he said.

– AAP