Shoppers were left unable to make card payments yesterday morning at major UK retailers following a technical issue.
The outage, which affected retailers including Sainsbury’s and Asda, meant shoppers were forced to pay in cash or abandon their trollies of groceries. Some petrol filling stations were also impacted.
It is understood 15 UK retailers were impacted.
“Contactless payment was briefly unavailable for a few minutes on Thursday morning,” said a Sainsbury’s spokeswoman. “This was due to an issue with a third-party payment provider. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Asda was approached for comment.
@sainsburys petrol station in Hemel Hempstead is closed due to kiosk pay system being down as well 🤯🎭👎
— Dionysus (@dionysus4real) July 11, 2024
Huge issues with card payments in @asda and ATMs in my area seems to be countrywide, with long queues, machines not working, card declined @SkyNewsBreak @bbcsomerset @LBCNews @BBCSpotlight @BBCNews pic.twitter.com/UXJs1ZYHM4
— Andy Nickolls - Paramedic - Road Safety Team DSFRS (@nickolls_andy) July 11, 2024
@AsdaServiceTeam Disgusted at your cribs causeway store!, just spent ages filling a trolley to then be told it’s cash only!! ,no mobile or cards. Should have told me before I entered!, I’ll be using Morrisons from now on.
— Mick Spanner (@spanner_mick) July 11, 2024
I thought I had gone completely #Cashless and #Cardless until the payments problems this morning with #Visa and #Mastercard.
— I L (@taatamalaika) July 11, 2024
I had filled my basket at Sainsbury’s only to be told cash only and to use ATM outside to withdraw cash.
I have no card on me.
Visa said it was aware some cardholders were experiencing issues but found it was not an issue relating to its systems.
“We are aware that some cardholders are experiencing issues when making payments,” said a Visa spokesman. “While Visa’s systems are operating normally, we are working with our partners to investigate.”
Mastercard said its network was “operating normally” and yesterday’s outage “was not related to our systems”.
French payment processor Worldline said that from 9.05am yesterday it observed “temporary perturbations on a payment platform due to a technical issue, impacting some specific payment flows”.
“Operating conditions were swiftly restored and Worldline’s teams are fully mobilised to monitor the normalized situation,” said a Worldline spokeswoman. “Worldline regrets the situation and any potential inconvenience.”
It is the third major payment outage for Sainsbury’s this year. In May, the supermarket suffered an IT glitch which left it unable to process contactless card payments in a significant number of stores. A major outage in March left it unable to fulfil the “vast majority” of online orders and also unable to process contactless payments at a large number of stores.
Financial technology company SMEB said yesterday’s outages shone “a fresh light on the continued importance of cash”.
Andrew Martin, CEO and founder of SMEB, said: “We’re seeing a growing number of businesses across the UK label themselves as ‘cashless’ venues, and it makes you wonder how they must cope when technical glitches like this happen, and the frustration it must cause their customers.
“Fortunately, millions of customers and businesses still recognise the benefits of cash. Unfortunately, getting your hands on it is not as easy as it used to be.
“The UK has lost 6000 bank branches since 2015, meaning that access to crucial financial services, such as the ability to withdraw and deposit cash at the end of the day, is no longer possible in many areas.
“Now that the UK has chosen its new government, we need to see them spring into action to solve the UK’s banking deserts. Every day that we wait, local businesses will suffer.”
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