Marks & Spencer has issued a statement to customers after suffering a cyber attack which has caused payment problems and delayed orders across all of its UK stores.

M&S, which has more than 1,000 stores open in the UK, has put out a message from its CEO addressing the problems which have beset its stores ‘over the last few days’ after reports of customers being unable to pay with contactless cards and being unable to use gift cards in stores.

On Easter Monday, the M&S store in the White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds was forced to close its cafe, and was not accepting contactless cards or gift cards due to the issues. Other stores are facing issues with returns not being given, and with click and collect outages too.

Now M&S has issued a message to customers about the issues affecting stores nationwide as it admitted it has been forced to make changes in stores as a result of the ongoing outages.

The message, posted on Tuesday afternoon, said: “I’m writing to you to let you know that over the last few days M&S has been managing a cyber incident. To protect you and the business, it was necessary to temporarily make some small changes to our store operations, and I am sincerely sorry if you experienced any inconvenience.

“Importantly, our stores remain open, and our website and app are operating as normal. There is no need for you to take any action at this time and if the situation changes, we will let you know.”

The statement added that click and collect orders online could still see delays. It continued: “There may be some limited delays to your Click and Collect order, which we are working hard to resolve.

“I know how much our customers trust M&S, and that trust is incredibly precious to us.

“We have been working hard with the best experts to manage this, and I want to thank them and my colleagues for their hard work.

“Can I take this opportunity to thank you for shopping with us and for your continuous support. We really appreciate it.”

Customers today are still taking to Twitter to raise concerns about services that are not working.

One said: “Hi there. I've got an order to return. Currently booked for drop off at a Food Hall but I understand your drop off machines are still not working? Can I take it to a normal staffed till instead? Thanks”

M&S replied: “Hi Chris, you can, however, the returns process will still be delayed due to the system issue. You can change your return method to return the parcel to a post office or Evri home collectio - Stefan”

Another said: “can you process returns yet? Before I head into town at lunchtime”

To which M&S replied: “You can certainly take your parcel into store, but the staff won't be able to scan it in until the technical issue has been resolved. This means there will be a delay on your refund.”