Telewest has admitted that its new TVDrive hard disk based video recorder has suffered some "teething problems" and that a new software patch has been issued to try and fix the snag.

Telewest, which merged with NTL to create a single UK cableco, launched its TVDrive PVR (personal video recorder) in March after a three month pilot of the service.

But customers have complained that the boxes keep resetting - making them as useful as a chocolate teapot.

One Telewest customer, who declined to give his name, told us his PVR was "effectively unusable" and that Telewest's customer support staff knew nothing of the problem. Yet an engineer who came round to check the PVR told him, "they're all like that".

A spokesperson for Telewest said: "We are aware of some minor teething problems that maybe affecting a small number of TVDrive customers. A new software download released yesterday should have solved the majority of these issues and we apologise to any customers affected."

The cableco has 1.2m digital TV customers but declined to say how many TVDrive subscribers it has signed up. ®