Virgin to broadband outage culprit: You dirty rat(s)

Some customers of Virgin Media's broadband services in Scotland found themselves in the dark for a brief time earlier this week. After an investigation, the company says it has found the culprit. Or culprits, to be more accurate about it.

Rats.

Apparently quite ravenous rats who made a meal of the company's fiber optic cables on at least a couple of occasions.

The company's engineers repaired underground cabling damaged by the rodents and restored service by early Monday evening. But not yet sated, the rats went back at it, chewing off enough cable to cause further service disruptions the next day in that left customers in the towns of Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Leven, where some residents found themselves without broadband, phone and cable TV services.

Virgin Media subsequently announced that it had put "additional measures in place" to protect its cables, apologizing for for any inconvenience caused.

No word yet on whether the measures involved leaving Garfield-sized felines behind to monitor the surroundings.