THOUSANDS of BT customers in Essex have been left without internet or phones after a nationwide outage.

Customers started experiencing problems this afternoon as the company confirmed "large numbers" of customers had issues. 

BT says it was not "malicious" but refused to confirm the exact number of people affected. 

Frustrated internet users took to Twitter as #BTDown became the UK's top trending topic. 

A BT spokesman confirmed the service problem, but said there was "no evidence" of a "malicious attack".

Rival TalkTalk's computers were hacked in October in what was originally feared to be a mass raid on customers' personal data.

The BT spokesman said: "Large numbers of customers have been experiencing temporary issues with their broadband services this afternoon. Customers can still receive and make calls as normal.

"We've been working hard to fix the issue and are glad to report that nearly every customer affected is now reconnected, approximately two hours after the problem started.

"We apologise to any affected customers for the inconvenience.

"There is no evidence at this stage to suggest that we were subject to a malicious attack."