Cut cables leave shops unable to take card payments
BBCBusinesses have been left unable to use card machines for payment after electrical cables were cut in an incident being treated as criminal damage.
Cables on North Street in Bedminster, Bristol, are thought to have been damaged in the early hours of Sunday morning, leading to multiple businesses having to only accept cash as payment from customers.
Avon and Somerset Police were contacted about the incident on Monday.
"We were called about an incident of criminal damage where electrical cables at NatWest bank in North Street, Bedminster, were reported to have been cut," said a spokesperson.
"Other cables in the area also appear to have been cut causing disruption to electrical supplies to a number of businesses," they added.
The police have asked for anyone with CCTV covering the area or any other information to come forward.
Businesses in the area said it had caused an impact, especially on Sunday.
"It's been a hassle, not a lot of people carry cash [so we've had to] put a lot of stuff back for people," said Alfie Tipping, assistant manager at Southville Deli.
"You can put as many signs up as you like but no one seems to notice," he added.
Nearby Parsons Bakery used spare WiFi devices to keep the tills running during the outage but still felt the effects of the disruption.
"Today the card machines and till have gone down loads because they've been working outside and its causing disruption to the signal," said manager Maisie Devonald-Workman.
"[It has] Not cost us too much but there are other businesses that couldn't do anything because they could only take cash and no one uses cash any more," she added.
Work has been under way to restore connection to all the affected premises since Monday morning.
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