BT Broadband And Website Crash UK-Wide

BT says it believes its broadband network is getting back to normal after a crash that affected customers across the UK.

The communications firm confirmed that its website and customer service platforms were affected by the afternoon glitch, which a spokesman this evening blamed on a "technical issue with one of our major routers".

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) had earlier ruled out any suggestion of a "malicious attack".

Its latest statement said: “Nearly all customers are back online and services are returning to normal.

"Our engineers have worked hard to fix this issue and they will continue to monitor the situation. As we stated earlier, we would like to apologise to any affected customers for the inconvenience caused."

Social media users first started reporting problems at 2.30pm and customers took to Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) to relay their experiences.

One, Keith Pestell, tweeted: "BT internet down, support lines down and website down. I did get through to India and the lady said: It's working here... really?".

Another, Char X, said: "What's happened with #BT? Internet down, help numbers not working and every page leads me to an error on the website!!!"

The Down Detector service, which monitors internet-based failures, noted thousands of customers in major cities reporting faults.

BT said it had managed to restore services to most customers within a period of approximately two hours.