Visa card payments go dark in Europe

Consumers in the U.K. and other parts of Europe were unable to make card payments on Friday when Visa's network crashed.

Consumers were receiving rejection notices at point of sale terminals, according to The Independent and other local media outlets. ATMs were reportedly still working, though there were concerns about long lines at machines given Friday's evening rush.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Visa told The Guardian it is investigating the outage, but as of early Friday afternoon New York time, the cause and scope were still unclear. Many banks, including Lloyds and RBS, issued apologies, though Barclays referred consumer complaints to Visa.

In Scotland, supermarkets were scurrying to open cash-only checkout lanes as Visa payments were working sporadically, according to The Guardian.

Visa confirmed the outage via social media, but did not provide further detail. Most other payment systems in Europe were functional, though there were reports of minor delays.