Many in country unable to pay bills or get cash because of software problem in credit and debit cards

A 2010 software bug has left millions of German debit and credit card holders unable to withdraw money or make payments in shops, and thousands stranded on holiday with no access to cash.

About 30m chip and pin cards – a quarter of those in circulation in Germany – are thought to have been affected by the programming failure, which meant that microchips in cards could not recognise the year change to 2010.

A French card manufacturer, Gemalto, admitted today it was to blame for the failure, which it is estimated will cost €300m (£270m) to rectify. Gemalto, whose shares dropped by 2.6%, said it was attempting a software update, but might have to replace the cards. Gemalto-manufactured cards in other countries were not affected.

The fault has led to comparisons with the millennium bug, when experts predicted the transition from 1999 to 2000 might cause computers to be fooled into thinking it was 1900. As it was, the changeover happened without much incident.

Although some cash machines were quickly reconfigured to override the 2010 problem, many bank customers were forced to queue to withdraw cash over the counter. Germany's economics minister, Rainer Brüderle, urged banks to "ensure that credit and bank cards function without problem as soon as possible, or to replace them immediately".

Many Germans were stranded at ski resorts with no way of paying hotel and restaurant bills. Holidaymakers were being urged to take travellers' cheques. Experts said it might take weeks to re-configure foreign bank machines.

Germany's consumer affairs' minister, Ilse Aigner, accused banks of carelessness and insisted that consumers should not be held liable for any resulting bank charges.

The problem will do little to boost Germans' confidence in credit cards, which are still a relatively new method of payment in a country that is probably the most cautious in Europe when it comes to taking on debt.

Olivier Piou, the head of Gemalto, said: "We are doing our best to keep to a minimum the trouble this is causing for card holders." He insisted that said Gemalto-manufactured cards in other countries had not been affected.

Customers were today being urged to call telephone hotlines to find out what to do if their cards were affected.