Virgin Media customers in areas including Wanstead, Woodford and Ilford have been left without internet access for two days after a utility company severed a broadband cable in Seven Kings.

The outage, which has also affected Virgin TV and phone customers, is believed to have impacted some council services including libraries.

A statement on Redbridge council's library website says: "There is currently no access to the internet on PCs due to a technical problem.

"Redbridge Central Library is NOT affected. We apologise for this inconvenience. Engineers are working to rectify the issue"

A spokeswoman for Virgin Media said: "One of our cables in the Seven Kings area has been damaged by construction work carried out by another party.

“Our engineers were on site within the hour and we’re working to get everyone back online as quickly as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience caused in the meantime.”

She was unable to confirm which company had caused the damage.

In Woodford Green a steady stream of people clutching laptops and mobile phones have been arriving to use the library’s Wi-Fi facilities - which have not been affected by the outage.

Denise Barnes, 41, a freelance housing consultant from Finchingfield Avenue in Woodford Green, said: “My internet went down about midnight on the 6th (of February).

“I have called Virgin but it’s just an automated message about a problem in the Woodford, Ilford and Dagenham area.

“I know these things happen, but as someone who relies on the internet it would be good to have a bit more information.”

Joe Connell, 54, an independent security consultant was also working in the library.

He said: “I have been reordering my work so I don’t have to go online as much.

“But I have to book some travel for next week so I have had to come down here.

“The library staff have been great, considering their systems are not working properly either.”

Have you been affected by problems with Virgin Media? Get in touch by calling Dominic Sutton on 07795 316 211.