Due to a flood and fire at one of BT's main nodes in central London, there has, today, been widespread disruption to a large number of broadband and telephone services across the UK.

A burst water mains initially caused flooding, but this then triggered an electrical fault creating a fire which had to be dealt with by the fire brigade. BT are currently working to rectify the problem, but due to the severity of the incident it's expected things won't return to normal until at least 2nd April. A BT spokesman tonight said it might take up to 4 days to rectify the problem.

Broadband companies we know to have been affected include :

• BT
• Eclipse
• Talk Talk/ Tiscali
• Freedom2surf
• Zen Internet

Phone exchanges across the UK have been affected, including the following local phone codes/ exchanges :

• Newtonhill
• Stonehaven
• Catterline
• Kinneff
• Inverbervie
• Gourdon
• Johnshaven
• Fourdon
• Laurencekirk

In a statement, BT have said "“Any customers needing to make calls to the emergency services who have a problem using their phones are advised to do so byusing their mobile phone, or alternatively by using a friend or neighbour's working phone.”