European Vat Number Module issue with PHP 7.1

[ukbaz]

Hi am using the European Vat Number module (/modules/vatnumber) v2.0.0 on Prestashop 1.6.13. with PHP v 7.0.33

All worked fine. Downgrading to PHP PHP v 7.0.33 it works again

Just updated PHP to 7.1.30 and it now does not deduct comes up with an error connecting to VIES checker and wont deduct VAT with valid numbers

Is there a fix for this?

Thanks

Baz