In a message to merchants, the company announced the VISA outage.

It is affecting ALL merchants nationwide.

“There is currently a disruption of service in taking payments from Visa,” the firm said.

“It is affecting payment provides across the UK and Ireland.”

Companies are currently in touch with Visa hoping to provide a solution soon.

Businesses have taken to social media to inform customers of the problems

Paymentsense told consumers it would “provide an update via social channels and email” as soon as the situation was sorted.

“We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls coming into our Customer Service teams,” Paymentsense added.

“We would ask for your patience in regards to the issue.”

Shops reported being unable to take payment at tills across the country.

There is currently no estimated time for when the issue will be solved.