‘The staff didn’t know what was going on’

SHOPPERS last night told of their frustration at having to wait in hour-long queues as Visa cards were declined across the country.

Clara Wiggins, 49, set out for what she thought would be a brisk grocery shop at Aldi in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Having selected her items, Mrs Wiggins faced long queues for both the cash machine and checkout, and was forced to pay for her shopping in instalments. After finally getting to the front of the checkout queue, the freelance writer paid for half of her groceries with the cash she had, before waiting in another queue for the cash machine and returning to the till.

‘The manager said it was the same all over town,’ she said. ‘I think the staff were getting flustered because they didn’t know what on earth was going on.’

Gabrielle Brandon, 42, was ‘fuming’ after her credit card was declined four times at a Waitrose supermarket in Fleet, Hampshire.

Miss Brandon, a freelance sub-editor, said her daughter Maia, 19, ran to a cash machine to withdraw £150 to pay for the shopping. The cashier continued to serve other customers and when Maia came back with the money, Miss Brandon was told all her items needed to be scanned again. She said: ‘I was fuming. I just walked out.’ Adam Brooks, proprietor of the Owl pub in Loughton, Essex, said staff had been unable to take Visa payments all day.

He said he would seek compensation from Visa after his business lost out on hundreds of pounds in takings.