SALEM — The Oregon DMV’s first attempt at allowing customers to book in-person appointments failed nearly instantly Monday, June 1, officials acknowledged, as the phone system was quickly overwhelmed by thousands of calls.

The state announced its new phone reservation system last week, marking the first attempt to allow people to access DMV services that aren’t available online — such as replacing a driver’s license — during the coronavirus pandemic

It didn’t go well.

Tom Fuller, the state’s transportation spokesman, said the phone system was “wholly inadequate to handle the volume of calls” the state received June 1.

Fuller estimated the state received at least 10,000 calls within the first hour. The state didn’t immediately have data available on how many calls were received total, the amount of the delays nor how many people were able to schedule appointments. Appointments were to be available starting Wednesday.

“The system just crashed,” Fuller said. “We still have, believe it or not, people on hold,” he said just before 4 p.m.

“We knew the demand was going to be high; we just didn’t know it was going to be so high,” Fuller added. “We didn’t have a lot of confidence in it.”

Fuller said he’s not certain, but he believes it’s the same system used by the Employment Department, which has seen extremely long hold times throughout the pandemic.

Transportation officials said they’ve spent all day working on a solution.

Kris Hancock, 55, was one of those frustrated callers.

Hancock hadn’t had a driver’s license in years after he said he was cited for multiple DUIs. But he cleaned up in recent years, he said, and was in the process of getting a new license before the COVID-19 crisis hit. Hancock’s wife has a debilitating back injury and it’s difficult for her to drive. She recently had to drive herself to the emergency room because Hancock didn’t have his license.

Hancock said he was told different things from different DMV workers about his issue but believed all he needed to finally regain his license was a new photo after passing his driver’s exams before the pandemic began.

He got through to a person on the phone tree at 8:07 a.m. but was put on hold and lost the call. “For the next couple hours, I would hear a ring sound, then get disconnected. Now, a message says we are not scheduling appointments until further notice,” he said.

Fuller said the state believes it will have a new system operational by 8 a.m. Tuesday that will allow people to submit forms online and subsequently get calls from the state to schedule appointments.

“Rather than have people call us we will be calling them,” Fuller said.

Fuller said the agency takes responsibility for what was a difficult day for Hancock and other Oregonians.

“For us it’s kind of a mea culpa,” he said. “We’re going to do better tomorrow.”

This article was originally published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving heath issue.