Co-operative double-charges customers in payments glitch - UPDATED

Payment "processing error" on Tuesday affects Co-op customers nationwide

The Co-operative, the troubled supermarket chain, has admitted that a "processing error" led to customers across the country being double-charged. Thousands of customers have been affected, but the retailer has promised to reimburse the money within the next 24 hours.

However, customers have been urged to examine their bank statements closely and to contact the supermarket chain if the mistaken charges are not reversed.

The Co-op admitted the error in a short statement today: "Due to a processing error customers who shopped with us or used a petrol filling station on July 7 using a credit or debit card were charged twice.

"We would like to apologise to all those affected, and reassure customers that refunds will be made directly in to their accounts within 24 hours. We will also reimburse any customers who have incurred bank charges as a result of this error."

A Co-operative spokesman told Computing that the error was uncovered this morning as a result of standard checks, and attributed the glitch to human error. He described it as a "one-off, isolated incident".

The error comes after financial results for 2014 that showed that food sales had fallen by 2.1 per cent to £7.1bn as sales are squeezed by both the German discounters Aldi and Lidl, and the mainstream supermarkets' response to their aggressive pricing.