Shoppers come stuck at the checkouts amid ongoing Visa issues

Many customers had to find cash machines yesterday so they could pay for goods after a problem with Visa cards

Card payments from Visa cards were unable to be processed yesterday, due to a troublesome service disruption.

The company said it is working towards resolving the problem, but shops and their customers have not been given a precise timeframe.

A Visa spokesman said: ‘Visa is currently experiencing a service disruption.

‘This incident is preventing some Visa transactions in Europe from being processed.

‘We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.’

There were reports that shoppers up and down the country had to find a cash machine so they could pay for goods.

ASDA in Newgate Lane, Fareham was one of the many stores across the region affected by the disruption.

A spokeswoman for the store said: ‘The problems started during the afternoon.

‘It has been difficult but we have just had to deal with it.

‘I know Visa are in the process of sorting it out and it has started to improve – we had a few transactions that went through in the evening.

‘Our top priority for the time being is to make sure our shop in working properly and that we are looking after our customers.

‘All we can do is keep up a high standard of customer service – but hopefully the situation is rectified as soon as possible.’

Some stores say they have been unaffected by the disruption, but have warned customers to bring cash into the store as a precaution.

The157store in West Street, Fareham tweeted: ‘It hasn’t affected us yet – but if you’re planning a visit this weekend please bring cash just in case.’

Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, says that people must keep a close eye on their expenses and keep records of what has left their account.

He said: ‘Clearly this issue will be a huge inconvenience to customers and it must be resolved urgently.

‘Visa and the banks need to ensure no-one is left out of pocket due to this outage.

‘We strongly advise people to keep any evidence of extra expenses they’ve incurred in order to claim them back.’

HSBC bank believes that the services are starting to come back to life, tweeting: ‘From what we understand there are still intermittent issues but services are slowly recovering.’