SOME of the exhibitors at a major craft fair at Bowood House and Gardens are to get a refund after customers were unable to pay for purchases by debit or credit card when the internet connection failed.

The WiFi technology supplied to The Handmade Fair failed on Saturday, meaning some of the 164 exhibitors were unable to use machines to take card payments.

Irate customers were forced to trek to cashpoint machines at the fair, which charged £2.99 for each cash withdrawal.

The technical breakdown mostly affected exhibitors in the fair’s Artisan Marketplace and Shopping Village at the three-day event.

One exhibitor, Bev Hams, of A Piece of Cake, said: “It was appalling. On Saturday, I had the worst day’s takings since I started trading.

“We were unable to take card payments and people were having to pay £2.99 to get cash out of the cash machines.”

Steve Lane, managing director of Brand Events TM Ltd, The Handmade Fair organisers, said: ‘Unfortunately there was an issue on Saturday afternoon with the WiFi technology provided by a third party supplier meaning that WiFi in our shopping village was intermittent.

“All exhibitors who had booked the WiFi package through the supplier directly have been offered a refund of the cost of their internet connection by ourselves as, whilst it is a contractor who has let us down, we as organisers are responsible for their experience onsite.”

It was the first time the three-day event has been hosted by Bowood House and Gardens. A similar event took place at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire in May.

The fair’s next venue is The Green at Hampton Court Palace, from September 14-16.

The Bowood House fair was hosted by TV property presenter and crafter Kirstie Allsopp on Friday and by TV gardener Sarah Raven on Sunday. It attracted thousands of craft enthusiasts.