Customers' details sent in e-mail

A water company has apologised after the personal details of 200 customers were sent out in a mass e-mail.

Southern Water said names and addresses were included in the message which it blamed on an "IT problem" with its contractor.

The e-mail was sent to 400 people taking part in a free water butt offer run with Portsmouth City Council.

Southern Water said it was investigating with its contractor the cause of the error.

A spokeswoman said: "The error has been attributed to an IT problem.

"We are in discussion with the contractor to work out exactly how it happened and to ensure it does not happen again.

"We would like to apologise to all those affected."