New Year’s Eve bank card users have been advised to check their bank statements as they may have been charged double for any purchases they made.
A major error with the Cardnet payment system, operated by Lloyds Bank affected chip and pin machines in restaurants, shops, pubs and clubs across Britain.
The bank card error potentially affected hundreds of thousands of people who made transactions on December 31, New Year’s Eve.
One shopper bought a £25 top from a Crew Clothing store in Chichester, West Sussex, using her Lloyds TSB debit card. But when her husband checked their bank balance on January 4, he spotted that the payment – with identical details and reference number – had gone through twice.
She said: “When I called the bank, they said it was a problem with the payment machines or systems. They seemed to think it had happened to a large number of people.
“We are very good at checking our statements but there are people who probably wouldn’t even notice this had happened.”
The card glitch came during one of the biggest events of the year when many are highly likely to be spending money in the sales or buying food and drink to entertain at home.
Any double-charging could have expensive implications for some card users, who may have gone over their overdraft limit and incurred a bank charge.
If you were affected by the New Year’s Eve bank card errror, you should contact Lloyds on 01268 567100.
Lloyds, which is 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer said it had refunded all affected customers.
A spokesman told the Daily Mail: “A technical error with our merchant system on December 31 resulted in the duplication of certain payments from cardholders to some merchants.
“Duplicated transactions have been reversed and cardholders are being reimbursed.
“We would like to apologise to affected individuals for any inconvenience caused.”
The problem does not affect withdrawals from cash machines.
