'Cyber incident' disruption at Leicester council to continue for days

Residents have been urged to only call the council in an emergency

Leicester City Council's phone lines and IT systems will remain offline until the middle of the week.

Disruption is set to continue for people trying to access council services after a decision to shut down on Thursday due to a "cyber incident".

The council has apologised for the inconvenience and is working to minimise disruption.

Extra emergency phone lines have been set up while "network issues" continue for people needing urgent assistance.

The council has not given further detail about the nature of the incident.

But it says it is continuing to work with cyber security and law enforcement partners, as well as other councils that have previously suffered from similar incidents.

Richard Sword, strategic director of city developments and neighbourhoods, said: "We expect that it will take until at least the middle of the week before we will be able to start the recovery process, beginning with our most critical services.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing. Council officers are working hard to ensure that our front-line services continue to operate with the minimum of disruption."