KFC restaurants across the North-East have been forced to close their doors to hungry customers following widespread delivery problems.

The fried chicken chain reported a host of it eateries have been affected by a supply problem blamed on DHL, who have been tasked with carrying out its deliveries.

With no chicken being supplied to its restaurants, KFCs across the region have closed, with Darlington, the Tees Valley, County Durham and North Yorkshire affected.

The Northern Echo:

In a statement from KFC, a spokesman said: “The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants.

“We’ve brought a new delivery partner on board, but they’ve had a couple of teething problems – getting fresh chicken out to 900 restaurants across the country is pretty complex.”

The spokesman added that the lack of deliveries has caused some restaurants to close entirely, while others are open but with reduced hours or operating a limited menu.

It is understood the shortage of chicken and fries began to affect restaurants late on Friday night, with staff forced to shut up shop early.

However, KFC UK and Ireland has stressed it is working to rectify the problem and teams are working "flat out" to resume normal service.

In its own statement, DHL said: "Due to operational issues a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed.

"We are working with KFC and our partners to rectify the situation as a priority and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

DHL announced in November that it had been appointed alongside QSL to manage the supply and distribution of food products and packaging for more than 850 KFC restaurants throughout the UK.

It said DHL would manage the physical warehouse and distribution service, with KFCadding it had specifically chosen the pair for their reputation of "innovation in logistics" across other industries.