Virgin Media have apologised after a cable was severed by a third party leaving thousands of people without internet, TV or phone access for three days.

The cable was severed on Wednesday evening by National Grid, according to a Virgin Media spokeswoman, in Goodmayes Road, Seven Kings.

Customers took to social networking site Twitter to vent their outrage at the blackout.

@DomFarmer tweeted on Saturday: "Anyone with Virgin Media in woodford or south woodford is f****d .. Like myself .. Can't even get my bets done for the game with no internet."

And @Dolls_N_Skulls also tweeted on Saturday: "@virginmedia still no service in south woodford! Sort it out Richard!!!"

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

"Our engineers were on site within the hour and worked around-the-clock to bring everyone back online by Saturday afternoon.

"We apologise for the inconvenience whilst the repair work was carried out."

National Grid have been asked to comment.