The website of retail giant Argos is back up and running again this afternoon after being floored all morning.

Earlier today a notice on the site read: "Sorry, argos.co.uk is temporarily unavailable, please try again later," before directing customers to contact the company by telephone.

A spokesman for the retailer confirmed that its site had been down for most of the day but that it was now in rude health. She explained that Argos.co.uk was felled by the all-too-familiar "Christmas rush" as shoppers flocked to the site for last-minute shopping.

She rejected suggestions that the stampede was prompted by speculation that Argos.co.uk had a limited number of must-have Xbox 360 consoles in stock. ®