A global IT meltdown has left shoppers unable to make card payments across the UK today as companies have been affected by the outage.
The Microsoft technical fault, described as the ‘most serious the world has ever seen’, has grounded flights, disrupted the NHS and even knocked banks and retailers offline.
Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike said even though it has identified the cause of the issue, systems ‘could take some time to recover’.
Here has put together a full list of all the shops, banks, travel companies and events that have been impacted by the global IT meltdown.
Waitrose
Supermarket chain Waitrose went ‘cash only’ in some stores today as its card machines went down.
A checkout worker at Kings Cross Station told customers: ‘It is cash only at the moment. The card machines are not working.’
A queue of around 30 people was seen snaking around the supermarket in the London station.
One shopper said: ‘There is a massive IT issue and all the self checkouts are not working. It is cash only.’
A spokesperson for the firm confirmed around lunchtime today that its contactless payments were up and running again.
They added that John Lewis had not been affected.
Morrison’s
Morrison’s customers reported issues with card payments at checkouts today due to the global IT meltdown.
Contactless payments did not work in some stores with shoppers asked to either pay in cash or make chip and pin payments.
A spokesperson for the company said earlier today: ‘We are experiencing some issues with payment in some stores this morning.
‘We are working hard with our partners to resolve this issue.’
Other supermarket chains Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Iceland all said they were not experiencing issues.
Co-op
Shoppers at regional Co-op stores were told to pay in cash only this morning with signs posted around the shops.
The regional Co-op stores are run independently from the national stores.
Gail’s
Bakery and coffee shop chain Gail’s also reported problems.
A sign outside the window of its Swain’s Lane shop in London said it was unable to take in-store payments.
Users on social media also reported being unable to make payments at other Gail’s outlets.
Visa
Visa customers reported more than 700 issues in the past 24 hours, concerning the ability to make purchases and payments.
A spokesperson for the card company said: ‘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.’
Metro Bank
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
The investment platform run by Barclays also went down, despite the majority of their services operating as normal.
A spokesperson for the bank 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.’
Wetherspoon
JD Wetherspoon customers were only able to pay in cash earlier today due to the Microsoft technical fault.
The pub giant’s app, which is used to make orders and payments, also went down at around 9am.
Wetherspoon has around 800 branches across the UK.
Heathrow and Gatwick
Passengers at Gatwick are facing lengthy queues at the check-in desk and heavy delays to flights.
One traveller described the scene at the travel hub as ‘bedlam’ with staff now handing out water to those stranded.
Dean Seddon started queuing at 6am to check in for a trip with his social media training company to Miami, Florida, ahead of their scheduled departure at 10am with Norse Atlantic Airways.
‘There are just people everywhere, there must be 400 people in this queue for the check in desk I’m at… it’s just bedlam,’ the 42-year-old from Plymouth said.
‘It’s one of those things where you kind of know we’re not going to fly, but you don’t want to leave because you don’t know.
‘(Staff are) doing the best they can but they don’t actually know when it’s going to be fixed, so it is frustrating, but you kind of feel for the staff as well.’
Heathrow was also affected by the global IT meltdown.
A spokesperson for the airport told : ‘Flights are operational but we are experiencing delays.
‘We are implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys.
‘Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information.’
NHS
GP services have been heavily affected by the IT issues with hundreds of appointments cancelled.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said any form of IT outage was a ‘serious concern’.
Royal Surrey Hospital also declared a critical incident with the system used to delivery cancer treatments cancelled.
Earlier the hospital was unable to deliver scheduled radiotherapy treatments, but this afternoon’s appointments will take place as scheduled, Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust said in an update.
Appointments into next week could still be affected due to remaining disruption to the system, the statement added.
Sky News
Sky News went off air this morning as a result of the Microsoft IT outage.
A spokesperson for the organisation said earlier today: ‘Sky News has not been able to broadcast live TV this morning, we apologise for the interruption.
‘All the news is still available online, on the Sky News app, website, and across our social media accounts.
‘We are working hard to restore all services.’
American Airlines
American Airlines was forced to ground all flights earlier today.
It has now ‘safely re-established’ services after experiencing technical issues this morning.
It was forced to issue a ‘global ground stop’ on all of their flights this morning, and have since ‘apologised to customers for the inconvenience.’
Mercedes
Mercedes was working to ensure the global IT outage has no impact on today’s practice sessions at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Error messages were seen on their pitwall earlier with the team now looking to fix the issues.
Crowdstrike is an official partner of the Mercedes F1 team with the company involved in their trackside operations.
The first practice at the Hungaroring began at 12.30pm today.
Manchester United
Manchester United’s ticket release was delayed until midday this morning due to the global IT outage.
The football club’s website was also temporarily unavailable.