A Somerset logistics firm near Shepton Mallet is at the centre of a major cyber attack after hackers broke into its systems and demanded a ransom to hand back control.

Peter Green Chilled, based in Evercreech, was hit by a ransomware attack last Wednesday, locking staff out of parts of its system and forcing the company to warn customers of serious disruption.

The firm supplies chilled groceries to some of the UK's biggest supermarkets – including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Aldi – but has told clients it may not be able to process some orders due to the breach.

In a statement to the BBC, the company said its transport operations were unaffected, but refused to say how badly its IT systems had been hit or whether it planned to pay the ransom.

Ransomware attacks involve hackers encrypting a company's data and then demanding payment – often in cryptocurrency – to unlock it or stop them from leaking sensitive files.

Managing Director Tom Binks confirmed the incident to the BBC but said: "The transport activities of the business have continued unaffected throughout this incident."

But behind the scenes, some smaller food producers who rely on the firm have raised concerns that any delay in deliveries could see fresh goods spoiled or stores left without stock.

Peter Green Chilled is the latest victim in a growing wave of cyber attacks targeting British firms, following recent hacks at Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Harrods.

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Experts say the UK is now a hotspot for ransomware gangs, who are exploiting poor cyber defences and patchy reporting rules to cause chaos and cash in.

Peter Green Chilled has not commented further and emails to the company are currently bouncing back with an auto-response saying it is only accepting messages from approved senders.