The cashless payment system that was used at the Galtres Parklands Festival has resulted in the traders at the event receiving no money whatsoever for three days work. They’ve lost stock, paid wages and received nothing back from the organisers.
Early indications suggest that at least one catering company will now go out of business, while others will struggle with the thousands of pounds of debt they have had forced upon them.
The festival used a cashless pre-paid card system, meaning that all money from the food and drink sold at the event was collected by the organiser via their third-party payment provider. The system is billed as being much more secure than carrying cash around the site, which reduces the chance of theft, and also makes the whole transaction much more simple without worrying about change or floats.
At the end of the event, traders received a statement showing what was owed to them, minus the event commission. As far as we can determine, three weeks after the event, none of the traders that attended the show have been paid by the organiser and there is much uncertainty about whether they will ever receive this money.
While we at NCASS like the premise of what the cashless system is able to do, we will be recommending to our members that they do not work with such systems in the future until they can be safeguarded to ensure that situations like this never arise again. They’re too great a risk, and until a system for ring fencing this money is developed, caterers shouldn’t accept work under these conditions.
The situation has affected a number of our members, many of whom are significantly out of pocket having worked the busiest weekend of the year. I encourage all traders to take legal advice, and we have a dedicated helpline for our members that can be accessed by calling into NCASS. However, due to the nature of this problem, and in solidarity with the event catering fraternity, we have decided to offer our legal advice line to all catering businesses who traded at the festival.
We hope that the festival will make the necessary arrangements to end the confusion and pay the traders the money that they earned through hard graft and in good faith.
Mark Laurie is Nationwide Caterers Association director. This is a personal blog and views expressed are his own.
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