Sainsbury's has suspended its online home delivery service after a technical fault hit its website.

The glitch left the company unable to access customer orders, although Sainsbury's has stressed that no personal details have been compromised.

The supermarket chain has issued an apology and has promised to contact customers left without their groceries.

"We have temporarily frozen our online home delivery website having identified a technical issue," the company said in a statement on its website.

"We are contacting customers directly whose deliveries have been affected. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes you."

Sainsbury's has pledged to compensate those affected with a £10 voucher which can be used towards future online shopping orders with the supermarket.

The technical fault coincided with the release of the company's latest trading figures, which show a 40 per cent rise in web sales in the first quarter of 2008.

The statement said that Sainsbury's online shopping service is "continuing to perform well" and that the supermarket delivered 90,000 orders via its website in the week before Christmas.