ATHENS – Most of Athens’ metro ticket-dispensing machines stopped working during a heat wave, apparently because the plastic-coated tickets weren’t designed to be  used in the kind of summers that Greece has.

The machines generally malfunctioned while trying to issue paper tickets and not during the renewal of existing electronic tickets, said Kathimerini.

The paper said it’s believed the problem is the quality of the plastic overlayd of tickets that the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) buys from a Finnish company.

The problem seems to be not with the machines but the laminated paper which might be melting due to the heat and blocking the machine. OASA is seeking to determine the exact cause of the problem.

The malfunctioning machines led to even longer queues at Metro stations where most of the manned positions were eliminated, leaving people no option but to stand in line and senior citizens unable to get discounted tickets except at a few stations – having to pay full price to get there for the subway tickets.