Some Spar stores in north England forced to close due to online attack

Some Spar stores have been forced to close because of an online attack, the company said on Monday.

“There has been an online attack on our IT systems which is affecting stores’ ability to process card payments, meaning that a number of SPAR stores are currently closed,” the company said on Twitter. “We apologise for any inconvenience, we are working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.”

According to reports, more than 300 stores in the north of England have been hit, forcing many of them to close. The few stores that opened were accepting cash as the outage prevented staff from taking card payments.

James Hall & Company are currently aware of an online attack on it's IT system. This has not affected all SPAR stores across the North of England, but a number have been impacted over the past 24 hours and we are working to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.

— SPAR North of England (@SPARNorthEng) December 6, 2021

James Hall & Company, the SPAR distributor for north of England, said on Twitter: “James Hall & Company are currently aware of an online attack on it’s IT system. This has not affected all SPAR stores across the North of England, but a number have been impacted over the past 24 hours and we are working to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.”

The website of James Hall has been down as of Monday evening.

Lawrence Hunt & Co Ltd, independent SPAR retailer with 25 stores around Lancashire, said there was “no time set to be back online”.

“Unfortunately due to a total IT outage affecting all our stores we have had to remain closed all day Sunday with no time set to be back on line – our apologies for the massive inconvenience to all our customers and store teams,” the retailer said on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/lawrencehunts/status/1467523631437828099