CABBIES WARNED: Taxi drivers urged to be ‘EXTRA VIGILANT’ of Russian issued Visa and MasterCards

A taxi payment solutions firm has warned taxi drivers, especially those working from Heathrow Airport, to be ‘extra vigilant’ of customers trying to pay with Russian issued Visa and MasterCards.

Cabvision, a black cab payment solutions provider, warned cabbies that all Russian issued Visa and MasterCard will stop working in the UK as of 9pm Wednesday 9 March.

The warning also extended to cab payments being paid with mobile devices such as Apple and Google Pay.

The warning follows Visa first announcing it would cease all Visa transactions over the coming days in Russia on Wednesday 5 March. The global giants stated that all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation.

A similar suspension was put in place by MasterCard as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Al Kelly, Chairman and Chief Executive officer of Visa Inc., said on Saturday: “We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed.”

“We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia. This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values.”