McDonald’s customers say they were turned away from restaurants around the world, including in the UK, after the fast food chain was hit by major IT problems.

British diners complained about outlets being shut, despite many being able to place orders through the company’s app.

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Updates on McDonald’s tech issues

McDonald’s Japan also halted operations at most of its 3,000 stores due to a system disruption, while the company’s Australia spokesperson said the firm was aware of an outage affecting its outlets nationwide.

The New York Times said McDonald’s Hong Kong also experienced a “computer system failure” – with mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks not functioning. The fast food chain has about 245 outlets in the former British territory, according to its website.

Some of the more than 160 stores in New Zealand also reported outages, impacting the ability to process orders.

In a statement, McDonald’s UK apologised to customers who had been affected.

It said: “We are aware of a technology outage which impacted our restaurants.

“The issue has now been resolved in the UK and Ireland.

“We thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

“The issue is not related to a cybersecurity event.”