Theatre reports “substantial risk” following payment service disruption

Lighthouse Poole, a theatre, stated its business encountered “substantial risk” due to an inability to process customer payments. The venue reported losing access to its payment service on 7 November, attributing the disruption to its provider, Worldpay, unexpectedly deactivating the service. Elspeth McBain, the chief executive, confirmed that the team at the registered arts centre and charity successfully established a provisional payment system, enabling continued ticket sales. However, the WorldPay account remained inactive until Monday. Worldpay stated its policy is to issue advance notifications to customers regarding account changes, while declining to comment on specific individual situations. Ms. McBain commented, “This dreadful mistake meant that in the middle of a busy period, Lighthouse was unable to trade, presenting a substantial risk to our business.” She disputed Worldpay’s assertions of having provided prior notification regarding the changes. She stated, “I cannot understand how Worldpay was able to cut off a charity from its income with no warning, explanation or information on how it might reactivate its account.” She further noted that Worldpay was unable to provide an estimated timeframe for the service’s restoration following the account’s deactivation. She added, “This happened through no fault of ours, during a routine review.” A Worldpay spokesperson issued a statement, saying: “As a policy, we do not provide comment on individual customers. “In line with industry-wide regulatory requirements for all financial services firms to protect our customers, we are required to periodically update customer information. “We take our regulatory obligations seriously and provide notices to our customers in advance to let them know when information is needed to help avoid disruptions to their services. “We work diligently to engage with our customers to meet these requirements and avoid disruptions, often including multiple notices and attempts to contact them.” For updates, BBC Dorset can be followed on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.