Chaos at Asda’s tills as card machines at every store in the country stop working
FRUSTRATED shoppers at Asda were left waiting ‘like cattle’ at checkouts across the country yesterday after the supermarket chain’s card payments system crashed.
Chaotic scenes and queues of up to 90 minutes were reported at tills as customers were forced to walk to ATM machines outside stores to withdraw cash to pay for their groceries.
But long lines also formed at the cashpoints with waits of up to 20 minutes to use them.
Asda, Britain’s third largest grocer, said every one of its 626 stores in the UK was affected by the glitch.
Customers posted photographs on social media of checkout staff using old-fashioned card readers, while others said stores were only accepting cash.
Gordon Carr, from Gateshead, wrote: ‘Thanks very much Asda, I have lost my ‘‘extra’’ hour today waiting at Boldon store as tills stopped working! 45 minutes with no explanation.’ Another customer, Jim Bentley, said on Twitter: ‘ No backup system. We’re just stood here like cattle waiting for your systems to start working again. On Sunday.’
And Darren Dalby tweeted: ‘All self serve down, cash only at the tills, no chip and pin. It’s the ’70s all over again.’
As frozen food began to melt some custom- ers abandoned their shopping rather than face the huge queues. Last night a financial expert said: ‘It’s quite embarrassing for a big store chain.
‘I can’t remember the last time this kind of thing has happened but a major retailer which has customers making large purchases relies on its card systems. Payments worth tens of thousands would normally be being processed every minute.’
Problems with the tills were reported from when stores opened yesterday morning and continued throughout the day.
Petrol station kiosks were also affected, but pay at the pump was operating normally as it is on a different computer server.
Asda, owned by US giant Walmart, said: ‘We would like to apologise to all customers who have been affected by technical difficulties affecting card payments at our stores. We are really sorry that some people had a frustrating shopping experience and long queues.’
The company said payments systems were operating as normal at the majority of stores by the end of the day and that it hopes to trade normally today.
It was still investigating what caused the IT problem. On social media there was speculation that it may have been linked to the clocks going back.
‘We’re just stood here like cattle’