Party goers left thirsty by card network

New Year's revellers and Christmas party goers were left thirsty over the festive period when problems hit off licence chain Thresher's credit and debit card authorisation networks.

Drinkers in Glasgow were left raking their pockets for change after Midland Switch cards were rejected. Thresher also had problems with authorisation for Visa cards.

"We did have problems. The system was asking us to phone through for authorisation. It meant things took longer to process and used up time we didn't have," said one sales assistant at Thresher.

Barclays' was investigating the problem as Network News went to press.

Switch and Visa denied problems with their networks, while Midland was unavailable for comment.