Millions of Barclays customers were unable to access their accounts online for several hours after the bank became the latest high street lender to suffer a technical glitch.

The problems emerged at 10.45am on Thursday and continued into the afternoon, although at just after 5pm the bank said normal service had resumed.

The bank’s website was not allowing customers to log in. However, a spokesman said the mobile banking service was allowing people to carry out transactions and that ATMs were working.

Angry customers were quick to complain. Steven Hyde tweeted: “@barclays I cannot access online banking with your current problems and need to pay a bill. Can I use my my debit card to pay or is this also affected?”

Another customer tweeted: “@BarclaysUK Pensioners are going without food … some of us can’t pay our rent … because of no access to our Barclays accounts. Corporate banking has ruined Barclays. How do you intend to compensate yr customers? When will the system be up and running? The only bank where it happens.”

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Later the bank put a statement on its website saying: “We’re sorry if you’re unable to access online banking, telephone banking, or use some parts of our app. You can still check your balance and use most features in the app.” It added: “Our teams are working to fix the problem … Thanks for your patience.”

At shortly after 5pm the bank said the glitch had been resolved. It added: “We’re very sorry about the technical problems our customers have experienced today. Everything is now back up and running and we’re really grateful for customers bearing with us.”

TSB is still recovering from an IT disaster in April, when customers were left without access to online banking services for several weeks. The bank has 1.9 million digital banking customers.