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Shoppers were seen queuing outside a supermarket this morning in what has been described as a "Covid throwback".
Customers at the Tesco Extra at White Cliffs Business Park, Dover, were reportedly asked by staff to wait in the car park to restrict the number of people at the tills as they dealt with an issue processing card payments.
A spokesman for the supermarket chain confirmed there was a "brief technical issue" but assured customers it has now been fixed.
The scene reminded one customer of the lengthy queues seen at the peak of the pandemic, when shoppers were made to wait outside stores to control the number of people entering to help with social distancing measures.
They said: "Shoppers are having to queue to get in as major problem with NatWest, Nationwide and Santander payments. All contactless payments are down. Chip and pin is working on other cards, though slowly, causing staff a major headache.
"They are restricting the numbers allowed in to stop huge queues forming at tills. It is like a Covid throwback."
A Tesco spokesman said: "We have now fixed a brief technical issue that impacted our Dover Extra for a short time this morning. We are sorry for any inconvenience this caused to our customers."
None of the banks reported any issues with their card payments online and a spokesman for Santander confirmed it had no reports of any issues.
NatWest and Nationwide have also been approached for comment.