Visa has confirmed that its payment processing service is returning to normal after a system failure left customers across Europe unable to make purchases. The company apologised for the disruption, which affected transactions for several hours on Friday.
The outage, attributed to a hardware failure, caused widespread issues for shoppers in the UK. Jay Curtis from Swansea had two cards declined at B&Q, forcing him to drive home for cash. Labour MP Angela Rayner also reported being unable to pay at a petrol station.
In Berlin, Primark customers faced 20-minute queues as staff struggled to explain the failures. Elle Gibbs-Murray from Bridgend was stuck in traffic on the Severn Bridge for 45 minutes due to card payment issues at the toll. Adam, on a canal boat holiday, had to forgo a birthday meal after finding only £20 in cash.
Visa stated that the issue was not due to any unauthorised access or malicious event. The company, which processes £1 in every £3 of UK spending, said it had no reason to believe security was compromised. Tesco confirmed chip and pin payments were unaffected, but contactless payments were impacted.
Consumer group Which? advised affected customers to keep evidence of extra expenses to claim refunds. Alex Neill, managing director at Which?, said: 'Visa and the banks need to ensure no-one is left out of pocket due to this outage.'
