Meet the slimeballs who are openly sabotaging Virgin Media

Snails attacked a Virgin Media broadband cabinet in Shropshire, UK, resulting in sluggish broadband services.

The escargot slid into a cabinet on Wednesday and were subsequently flambéd after being electrocuted by the battery.

According to an incident report by the Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, a call was received on Wednesday reporting a fire in Donnington, Telford.

It said one "fire appliance was mobilised from Wellington" after a "small amount of smoke issued from a Virgin Media street cabinet" caused by an "infestation of snails".

According to The Shropshire Star, passers-by called the fire service when the snails found their way onto the cabinet’s battery in Baldwin Webb Avenue, Donnington.

It is not known why the terrestrial gastropods decided to undergo the suicide mission - we can only speculate they were not impressed with the firm's services.

The firm has said it would bring ultrafast broadband to Shropshire under its £3bn Project Lightning network expansion.

Virgin Media has been in touch to say: “We apologise for this sticky situation and are grateful to those who have come out of their shells to alert us to this problem. We take all situations affecting our cabinets seriously and quickly resolved this so that our customers can enjoy ultrafast broadband at anything but a snail’s pace”. ®