GLASGOW City Council's email network is down after IT servers were accidentally sprayed by fire extinguishers.

An air conditioning unit "catastrophically" malfunctioned releasing gas, which then kicked in the councils fire alarm or "fire suppression" system.

This then sprayed a substance used to extinguish flames - not water, according to a council spokesman - all over the IT hub.

It damaged a server, taking out the email network.

The council's main switch board number was also out of action for a short time.

They say that vital services for vulnerable people, which rely on the faulty email system, are being carried out manually.

Work is ongoing to fix the problem.

It is not known when the email system will be reinstated.

A spokesman said: "The catastrophic failure of an air conditioning unit has damaged some of our IT equipment.

"our email system is down but vital services, particularly those for vulnerable people, are being delivered manually."

The local authority took to social media to warn people that emails to them will not get through.

A tweet from the council read: "Our email system is down. If you have emailed us since yesterday morning we have been unable to deal with it."