Cashless society in chaos as Visa crash cripples payments
VISA was thrown into chaos last night when its payment system crashed across Europe.
Thousands of people had their cards declined at shops and on public transport, as the network said “service disruption” prevented transactions from being processed.
The issue caused severe disruption, with thousands of Visa customers complaining last night. One went as far as calling the debacle “the apocalypse”.
Visa last night apologised, saying the issue was the “result of a hardware failure” and not associated with a “malicious event”.
More than £1 in every £3 spent in the UK is on a Visa card, via a system that can process up to 65,000 payments a second.
Supermarkets including Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons were unable to process payments, forcing customers to abandon full trolleys at the till.
The National Lottery was also forced to respond to complaints after customers were unable to use their accounts online. Staff in some John Lewis outlets said Visa payments had been failing sporadically and there were long queues reported in branches of Marks & Spencer and Paperchase.
Small business owners also said the incident cost them takings.
Rail passengers were left unable to travel as transport groups including Transport for London and Great Western Railway were caught up in the Visa meltdown, and drivers compared the Severn Crossing into Wales to “hell on Earth” as people struggled to pay the toll during the evening rush hour.
The issue also curtailed payday drinks at many pubs. Wetherspoon’s warned customers that it was experiencing “intermittent” issues with Visa cards and that cash should be used instead.
In Europe, three members of a race across the Continent where contestants can only use a single method of payment were left stranded, according to organisers.
A Bank of England spokesman said last night they were aware of the problems and were working with the firm to resolve the situation.
Sources said the Bank was
last night locked in talks with the company and that it was thought to be a technical issue. Police and cyber security agencies had not been alerted.
A National Crime Agency spokesman said that although they were taking an active interest in the unfolding problems and would discuss any relevant issues with partners, they had not been contacted by Visa.
Action Fraud, which would usually be the first port of call if suspicious activity was detected, also said it was not something of which they were aware.
A Visa spokesman said: “Visa had a system failure that impacted customers across Europe… We apologise to all of our partners, and most especially, to Visa cardholders.” As of 10pm last night, Visa said its cards were “close to operating at normal levels”.
Mastercard, which powers the majority of UK credit cards, said it had experienced no problems and high street banks said ATMS were unaffected. Consumer experts Which? advised people to keep evidence of extra expenses in order to claim them back later.
The problems highlight the increasing reliance on card payments and the shift towards a cashless society. A third of card payments are now contactless and more than 95 per cent of UK debit cards use the Visa network.