VISA’s meltdown left Britain raging yesterday as cashless customers fumed about missed trains, traffic chaos and getting rejected at KFC and McDonalds.

The card giant apologised for a crash that sparked payment chaos across Europe yesterday with millions of Brits affected.

10 The Visa network crashed this afternoon causing chaos as Brits prepared to knock-off for the weekend Credit: PA:Press Association

The issue occurred just as Brits prepared to knock-off work for the weekend and just one day after pay day.

And cashless customers took to social media to vent their frustration after seeing their payments rejected - with drivers unable to pay tolls on the Severn Bridge to enter Wales.

One wrote: “It looks like no-one can get into Wales in the M4 this evening due to #visa card failure at the Severn Bridge tolls.”

“To top that, at 8pm the M4 is scheduled to close between Magor 23A & the Coldra Croeso y Gymru.”

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Current queues at Tesco cash machines in MK. Suspect this is a common scene across the U.K. right now 😬 #visadown pic.twitter.com/YunwFA8lYz — David Pride (@davejavupride) June 1, 2018

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One posted: “Just on the train now. 20 minutes. Visa card payments aren’t working. Missed a train trying to buy a ticket.”

Another said: “It was not funny having my card rejected at garage #visa & I look forward to MASSIVE compo you'll be sending me to apologise!”

A third tweeted: “#Visa complete joke been to kfc and mcdonalds with the kids and both couldn't take cards! Grrr get on and fix the problem!”

But the issue wasn't limited to the UK, with Visa customers across Europe complaining of problems.

One Irish Visa user wrote: “Full bag of KFC left at the counter as Visa Debit is not working. Morto!! Happening all across Europe apparently.”

And a Brit in Austria wrote: “Sat in a bar in Vienna, can’t pay the bill because visa is down everywhere... and then an advert for visa debit comes on. Oh the irony #visa debit.”

Others seemed to see the funny side, posting memes mocking the company or taking the mick out of the mass hysteria.

Sat in a bar in Vienna, can’t pay the bill because visa is down everywhere... and then an advert for visa debit comes on. Oh the irony #visa debit pic.twitter.com/GdpErlroZL — jamie, I’m still #FBPE (@donttakethepeas) June 1, 2018

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#Visa Head of Visa coming back from a tea break! pic.twitter.com/Ne0AY5TWnt — Craig (@Madmax__31) June 1, 2018

The card network operates card payments at the majority of banks in the UK as well millions of businesses.

£1 in every £3 spent in the UK is made on a Visa card.

Fears of long cash machine queues were sparked as Brits dashed to access their funds.

Commuters also faced being stuck as Visa payments at ticket machines failed.

Epsom racecourse was forced to close its bars during ladies day as tills were not working in the wake of the IT glitch.

10 Customers queuing outside a cash point near Borough Market in London Bridge Credit: The Sun

Drivers on the Severn Bridge heading to Wales were unable to use card machines causing traffic chaos.

Supermarkets, restaurants, and bars and pubs across the UK were unable to process Visa payments.

Wasnt aware this was going on. Just had my card declined by MacDonald. Went out fuming like a panda only to be turned down by KFC too. Who knew visa had so much control on our hard earned cash #Visa pic.twitter.com/jWBRkZbqna — Eleneus Akanga (@ellyakanga) June 1, 2018

Long delays at Sainsburys Rayleigh getting fuel, as the Visa network appears to be down @sainsburys #visa pic.twitter.com/3l6j8RXoJF — Pete Sipple (@petesipple) June 1, 2018

Just confirmed that all mobile purchases of train tickets on @thetrainline are failing as a result of the #Visa crash



How are we meant to travel? pic.twitter.com/TgK5uHGMi7 — Benjamin Wareing (@BenjaminWareing) June 1, 2018

Video explains how the Visa credit card payment process works

Customers were being advised to take cash with them as ATMs were not working.

One customer told the Daily Mail she had Visa payments at a bar declined so switched to Google Pay.

But she later received a notification saying several card payments had gone through after all and was now worried she wouldn’t be refunded after paying twice, it was reported.

Some shoppers were turned away from supermarkets and Brits on holiday across Europe were also affected.

MasterCard and Amex confirmed there were no problems on its networks, despite some customers saying they had suffered issues with payments.

More than 95 per cent of debit cards in the UK are run on Visa's network, which is regulated by the Bank of England.

Brits stuck abroad due to Visa card glitch BRITS holidaying in Europe have also been caught up in the Visa payment glitch chaos. Lucy and Dominic Doyle were driving back through the Swiss Alps with their two daughters Niamh, 13, and Ruby, 12, when their card failed as they tried to fill up the car with petrol. The family was on its way back from a half-term trip to Lake Como in Italy and 800 miles from home. Lucy, a veterinary nursing assistant said: "We had to scrabble around for change in the car in order to top up the petrol. "It's a really stressful way to end our holiday. "Luckily we have got a hybrid car so it will keep going for a bit longer on electricity, but when that runs out I'm not sure what we will do. "We've got camping gear in the car and some food so we might have to camp."

Staff at Morrisons showed off old-school imprint and signature machines, as reports suggest they are being forced to go back to the retro technology to take payments.

The Visa website, proudly states: " No other card is more widely accepted around the world than Visa debit."

"As millions of people around the world have found, you can easily use Visa debit everyday, everywhere, for everything."

A spokesperson from Visa said: “Earlier today, Visa had a system failure that impacted customers across Europe.

10 Revellers at Epsom racecourse, which was forced to close its bars due to the payment issues Credit: Getty Images - Getty

"Our goal is to ensure all Visa cards work reliably 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"We fell short of this goal today and we apologise to all of our partners, and most especially, to Visa cardholders. Visa cardholders can now use their Visa cards as we are currently operating at close to normal levels.

"The issue was the result of a hardware failure. We have no reason to believe this was associated with any unauthorised access or malicious event."

High street banks Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank and NatWest were tweeting customers affected by the outage saying they were working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

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Last year, the card company suffered a three-day outage in its "settlement" system.

The unprecedented crash didn't affect customers but meant that thousands payments couldn't be processed.

Paymentsense, which runs card payments for small businesses, said the Visa outage had affected shops across the country.

Urgent: VISA outage announcement affecting all merchants nationwide. pic.twitter.com/BMuRLIs5cY — Paymentsense (@Paymentsense) June 1, 2018

Last night, Visa apologised for the disruption, which it blamed on a hardware failure and insisted was not the result of a hack.

It said by 10pm cards were working at “close to normal levels”.

And in the early hours of this morning, Visa said they had "resolved the technical issue".

"The issue was the result of a hardware failure within one of our European systems and is not associated with any unauthorised access or cyber attack.

"Visa Europe’s payment system is now operating at full capacity, and Visa account holders can now use Visa for any of their purchases and at ATMs, as they normally would," they said.

Al Kelly - Chief Executive Officer, Visa Inc. added: “Our goal is to ensure all Visa payments work reliably 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We fell well short of this goal today and we apologise to all of our partners and Visa account holders for any inconvenience this may have caused."

What to do if you can't use your Visa card DON'T get caught out without access to your money If you are heading out this evening or over the weekend, make sure you aren't relying on your Visa card alone

We don't yet know how long the payment problems will last so it's vital to make sure that you aren't caught short

Take cash with you if you can

If you have other credit or debit cards make sure that you bring these along

Keep reciepts and a record or any extra costs you incur should you need to claim it back

Visa down as network crashes in UK and across Europe sparking payment chaos

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