Thousands of Abbey current account customers had their salary and benefit payments delayed today following a technical error at the bank.

The error meant payments that were due to be processed overnight were not credited to people’s accounts, while direct debits and standing orders were also not been paid.

Abbey said it had now fixed the problem and has spent all day on Wednesday "urgently" processing the delayed payments.

Abbey, which is part of Spanish banking giant Santander, has around six million current account customers, although only people expecting a credit to be paid into their account or a payment to leave it were affected. The error will have affected many workers who receive their salaries early during December, ahead of the Christmas break.

It could not have come at a worse time for many Abbey customers, who may have been left struggling to pay for Christmas goods today.

A spokesperson for Abbey said: “We can confirm all outstanding payments have now been credited to affected accounts. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience the delay may have caused them.

"No customers will incur any charges as a result of this problem.”