Sky, Virgin and BT internet connections down for thousands of customers in London

Companies say problem caused by construction workers cutting through cable in Brixton

(Rex)

Thousands of Londoners have been without internet as Sky, BT and Virgin customers reported issues across the capital.

Problems with internet connections became apparent on Tuesday, and continue to persist. Sky said the problem has been caused by “construction work” which accidentally cut through a fibre cable.

The company said Balham, Brixton, Nine Elms, Vauxhall, South Clapham and Battersea had been affected by the accident.

A spokesperson for Virgin told The Independent around 4,300 of its customers were affected after "a major piece of our network was badly damaged", and that they will be eligible for compensation.

It said in a statement: “On Tuesday afternoon a major segment of our fibre cabling was cut by a pile driver on a construction site in Brixton. Our engineers have been working overnight to assess the damage and even though we won’t be able to make a full repair until the pile is removed, we are working on a temporary fix to restore services to local customers.”

BT warned people may not be able to access the internet due to a "technical problem".

"[We] are working hard to fix the problem and we will provide an update on progress soon. We're sorry for any inconvenience caused."

Customers expressed their dissatisfaction on Twitter.

Jordi Izquierdo wrote: "It's due to the issue in SW. Your service is usually poor & it's getting to a point that it's not worth the money I'm paying."