World-famous toy shop Hamleys experienced a glitch in its web operation yesterday during one of the busiest times of the year for retailers.

Reports suggest that the firm did not renew the domain name hamleys.com before the expiry date of 28 October and that shoppers were directed to a holding page from Network Solutions when they tried to access the toy shop’s web site.

Hamleys.com appears to be up and running again. The firm’s head of IT, David Oakley, refused to comment on what caused the glitch.

Earlier this year, the company had to cut its IT budget by five to 10 per cent and reduce the department’s headcount as part of an overall restructuring plan.

The business then focused on renegotiating supplier contracts, as well as some essential projects at the front end, in systems supporting activities such as “getting cash from the till”, according to Oakley.