A MAJOR global tech outage has left shoppers unable to make card payments across the UK.
The Microsoft outage has sparked chaos around the world with flights grounded and essential phone lines offline.
The SunA global tech outage has left some regional Co-op shoppers unable to make card payments across the UK[/caption]
TwitterWaitrose shoppers have reported that sites have been affected today[/caption]
Television channels, banks, GPs and supermarkets around the world have been rocked by the issues.
Cybersecurity software firm Crowdstrike says it has identified the cause of the issue as a flawed anti-viral update.
Retailers and card providers are said to be experiencing problems in some stores.
Big supermarkets such as Morrisons and Co-op, and pub giant Wetherspoons are affected.
Some major banks have also confirmed that they’re having trouble communicating with customers.
Here’s the full list of retailers, pubs and banks which have been affected:
Morrisons
Metro Bank
Wetherspoons
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Regional Co-ops
Visa
Visa
Visa customers have reported more than 700 issues in the past 24 hours, mainly to do with purchases and payments.
A spokesperson for Visa told The Sun: “There is no indication of any impact on Visa’s ability to process payments from this issue. Our systems are operating normally.
“We are aware of reports of people being unable to make payments and are working with our financial institution clients to understand any impact on their services to cardholders and merchants.”
Morrisons
Elsewhere, Morrisons shoppers have also been asked to pay using chip and pin this morning, with contactless not working at some sites.
One said: “No contactless payment in Morrisons this morning — cash or chip and pin only.”
Another wrote: “Morrisons, contactless payment is down, chip and pin is working so please remember your card! Cheers ta!”
A spokesperson said: “We are experiencing some issues with payment in some stores this morning. We are working hard with our partners to resolve this issue.”
The problems at Morrisons are thought to have been resolved.
Retailers which aren’t affected by the outage
THE following retailers have already been in touch to say they are unaffected by the outage:
Nationwide
A spokesperson said: “We aren’t currently seeing any customer impacts following the global IT outage, but we will continue to monitor our systems closely, as we always do.
“Systems like our Banking App continue to work normally.”
Iceland
Iceland confirmed that it is not affected at this time.
Tesco
Customers can shop in Tesco stores and online as normal, it confirmed.
Lidl
Lidl says it is not currently experiencing any operational issues and its stores are trading as normal.
Primark
“We’re not currently experiencing any issues and customers can continue to shop as normal in all Primark stores,” a spokesperson said.
Wetherspoons
Wetherspoons also reported that its app, which can be used to make orders and payments, was not working earlier this morning.
The pub giant, which has over 800 branches across the UK, confirmed to Sun Money that its app went down at around 9am.
Customers were only able to use cash to pay for their food and booze.
One punter wrote: “This is bl***y serious, the Wetherspoons app is down.”
Another commented: “Wetherspoons is only taking cash (sign on the door as I walked past).”
A third said: “I hope no one was planning on going to Wetherspoons tonight, Microsoft has crippled them.”
Co-op
Regional Co-op and Co-operative stores, which are run independently from the national shops, have reported issues this morning.
Shoppers have been told to pay using cash only, posting signs around the shops.
Staff members have reportedly told customers that the issues are affecting all Co-op sites in the UK.
The Heart of England Co-op Food account tweeted: “We are experiencing issues with our card payments.
“This is affecting many other retailers and we are working with our card payment provider to resolve this as soon as possible.
“We apologise for any inconvenience.”
The Sun has contacted Co-op for comment.
Metro Bank
It’s not just retailers and pubs affected, banks are also having trouble connecting to customers.
A Metro Bank spokesperson said: “Along with many other organisations we have been affected by the reported global IT outage.
“Currently we are having problems with our phone lines, which means customers may have trouble getting through and we have issues with some faster payment options.”
“Customers can still transact via their app or online banking or visit us in-store if they are close by.”
Barclays
While the majority of Barclays services are working as usual, its investing platform is currently down.
Barclays spokesperson said: “All Barclays services are operating as normal at this time other than our digital investing platform Smart Investor, where customers are currently unable to manage their account in the app, Online Banking or over the phone.”
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s told The Sun it is unaware of any issues, but shoppers have taken to social media to report payment delays this morning.
A spokesperson said: “We’re not seeing any impact to our stores but continue to closely monitor the situation.”
Writing on X one said her card payment for her shopping delivery had been declined without a reason.
She wrote: “You have advised my card payment has been declined for my delivery, I have tried calling you and have been on hold for 60 mins. You have now sent a text asking me to call and the line is not working. Please can you resolve this for me?”
A second shopper asked: “What is happening? Why are customers holding on for over 25 minutes because our orders cannot be processed due to payment issues? Is your system down???”
A third said: “You are obviously having a major issue with your phone lines this morning. I have a store collection to pick up later and my card has been declined, are we able to pay in store before picking up if unable to pay via phoneline?”
Waitrose
Waitrose branches are also said to be experiencing problems with payments today.
Taking to Facebook one shopper said: “Computer system outage!
“Waitrose in Mill Hill Affected! Accepting Cash Only Payments!
“Langstone Way Surgery can’t see anyone if you have an appointment booked for today it will be rescheduled…
“Just passing on the message I’ve just got from Langstone Way Surgery.”
While another posted: “Waitrose cash only at the moment
“Chaos people wandering around like lost souls”
Waitrose says it is now taking contactless payments largely as normal, as well as still processing payments by Chip and PIN and cash. It is also continuing to take orders via Waitrose.com.
The chain said the issues had only limited contactless payments, Chip PIN and cash have been available this morning.
John Lewis was not impacted by this issue.
Global services affected by IT outage
Trains
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – urged passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”
Gatwick Express – warned travellers they are “currently experiencing widespread IT issues”
South Western Railway – all ticket vending machines are currently non operational – buy tickets online
National Rail – some train operators are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice train cancellations
TransPennine Express – some TPE stations and systems are having IT issues – buy tickets online
New York City’s MTA system affected
Washington D.C Metro trains – delayed
Airports and airlines
Manchester Airport – delays for those checking-in for Swissport flights
London Gatwick – passengers may experience some delays while checking in and passing through security but should still arrive for their normal check-in time
Ryanair – advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions
Edinburgh Airport – wait times longer than usual
Stansted Airport – some airline check-in services reverted to being done manually, but main operational systems are unaffected and flights are still operating as normal
Luton Airport – running manual systems
Heathrow Airport – affected but flights operational – check with airline on latest journey information
American Airlines – all flights cancelled
United and Delta – no flights taking off
Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines – flights grounded
Frontier and SunCountry – affected by outage
San Francisco Airport – passengers reporting suspended flights
Mumbai Airport – check-in desks shut down for IndiGo, Akasa and Spice Jet flights
Australian airline Qantas – flights grounded
Schipol Airport in Amsterdam – flights to and from the Netherlands affected
Spanish airport association AENA – reported issues at 42 airports
Rome’s Fiumicino Airport affected
Ibiza Airport – empty due to IT outage
Hamburg Airport in Germany affected
BER Berlin Airport – Long queues
The Hague Airport in Rotterdam – travellers experiencing longer wait times
Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo – check-in delays
Palma Mallorca Airport affected
Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok – longer queues reported
Hong Kong Express Airways passengers delayed at Hong Kong International Airport
Television Networks
Sky News – Friday morning breakfast show unable to air but now back on screens with reporter reading from printed notes
Paramount Global channels including MTV, VH1, CMT and Pop TV – bumped offline.
Britain’s GPs
The Wilmslow Health Centre in Cheshire – without access to their IT systems
Solihull Healthcare Partnership in the West Midlands – affected ability to book/consult with patients this morning
Central Lakes Medical Group in Ambleside – stated there has been a “big effect” and delays on the phone expected
Pocklington Group Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire – appointments needing to be cancelled and rearranged
Hulme Hall Medical Group, in Stockport – unable to offer any appointments
Windrush Medical Practice in Witney, Oxfordshire – continuing as normal for urgent enquiries but ask for routine concerns to wait until Monday
Grimethorpe Surgery in Barnsley – no access to the clinical system, EMIS Web
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) confirmed the IT outage is disrupting community pharmacies
A surgery in Putney, southwest London – Displaying an error message online to patients who attempt to book
Global hospitals
Two German hospitals have been forced to cancel emergency operations
The hospitals, in the northern German cities of Luebeck and Kiel, cancelled all elective operations scheduled for today
Supermarkets and restaurants
Morrisons are affected
Some Waitrose and Co-op are now cash only
Gails and Waterstones experiencing some issues
Wetherspoons pubs – only accepting cash
Woolworths and Coles supermarkets in Australia – self service machines not working
Events
Manchester United ticket release postponed – morning’s ticket release will be postponed until midday and website will remain unavailable
Banks and supermarkets in Australia including Beyond Bank Australia have also been experiencing issues this morning.
Various Microsoft services in Japan and New Zealand are also battling tech issues.
What is the Microsoft outage and who is affected?
The severe issues at Microsoft have crashed computer systems across the world leaving major businesses, newsrooms and television networks all plunged into chaos.
Sky News and Sky Sports have also been rocked by the outages with them going off air completely – leaving viewers baffled by the severe disruption.
The chaos comes on what is set to be the busiest day for flights in five years as the school holidays get underway for summer.
Various Microsoft services in Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania have all been facing tech issues this morning.
The tech issues have affected people’s ability to access Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike say they have identified the issue behind the global outage as a flawed anti-viral update.
Microsoft has since announced it is taking “mitigation actions” against the issues.
They said via X: “Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions.
“We remain committed to treating this event with the highest priority and urgency while we continue to address the lingering impact for the remaining Microsoft 365 apps that are in a degraded state.”
A Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg that a “resolution is forthcoming”.
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