FOUR HUNDRED and fifty people were left without a phone line or internet for nearly 24 hours after a cable was severed at Park End Street.

It is not clear whether the fault was caused by contractors redeveloping the road for Oxfordshire County Council.

The problems hit Virgin customers, including homes and businesses throughout Oxford, early on Sunday morning and continued throughout the day.

In a statement Virgin said a "small" number of customers had been affected by the problem.

Spokeswoman Verity Henderson said: "A section of backbone fibre cable was damaged in the area and a small number of customers were affected.

"Our engineers treated this with the highest priority and worked through the night to fully restore connectivity.

"The fault was reported and resolved within 24hours – I can confirm that services have now been fully restored for both business and residential customers in the area.

"We apologise to our Oxford customers who have experienced a loss of service. "

She later revealed "approximately" 450 customers had been affected but could not say where they were.

A separate Virgin Media communication seen by the Oxford Mail described the fault as a "Fibre Break at Park End St" in Oxford.

Oxfordshire County Council contractors are currently digging up large sections of Frideswide Square and Park End Street for a multi-million pound redevelopment.

It is not clear yet whether the fault on Sunday was a result of those works.