Customers trying to log into some online banking sites this afternoon, and gamers using Sony's Playstation Network, all experienced problems in a brief network outage that also affected the NHS and British Airways.

HSBC, RBS, Barclays, Halifax and Lloyds were among those unavailable to customers alongside some online shopping sites.

Online gamers flocked to social media to report issues with the gaming platform Playstation Network.

People reported difficulties with both playing and buying Playstation games on what is the first day of the school summer holidays for many.

The websites for department store John Lewis and airline British Airways were also unavailable on Thursday afternoon, around 5.30pm, as was the NHS vaccination website which was also offline for a short period of time.

Some website are now believed to be coming back online but it remains unclear as to what caused the problems and how many companies across the country were affected.

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