Google Cloud services recover after power event disrupts UK banks and NHS
Google Cloud services are recovering after a power event at a London data centre disrupted banks, delivery firms, NHS England, government sites and court live streams.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Google Cloud services began coming back online in the afternoon after a power event at a London data centre disrupted banks, delivery firms, NHS England and the NHS app, government websites and court live streams. The outage began around 7am and knocked out hundreds of websites and apps, with some customers unable to make card payments, use banking apps or track deliveries.
Google said the problem was caused by a power event at its Europe West 2B zone, a cluster of data centres in London. It did not disclose the exact location or say whether there had been too much or too little power. The company apologised for elevated errors and intermittent network failures and said its engineering team was investigating. Sources close to Google said there was no evidence of malicious activity, and the incident was not thought to be a security issue. A full incident report was expected in the coming days.
Among the services affected were Revolut, Lloyds, HSBC, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland, DPD, Royal Mail, Rightmove, NHS England, UK government websites and some magistrates court live streams. Google's own services also reported problems. Not every company confirmed its involvement, but monitoring services and broadcasters listed them as affected. One report put the Revolut impact at 220,000 customers worldwide, including 23,000 in the UK. Revolut apologised, said all customer money and data was safe, and later said the problem was resolved.
The disruption had a practical effect on daily life. Shoppers reached supermarket checkouts with full trolleys and could not pay. Delivery apps went down, leaving people unsure when orders would arrive. A holidaymaker in Vietnam found his Revolut card declined and could not get an answer at the time. Court hearings were affected because live streams failed. One Revolut customer described the experience as embarrassing and scary.
Google and Revolut both moved to reassure customers. Revolut said all money and data were safe. Google said the problems were affecting a very small number of customers by the evening, although earlier the potential reach was put at millions. The outage took about seven hours to fix at the London zone. Google said engineers were still working and that there would be a full investigation.
The incident exposed how much UK business and public services depend on a small number of US cloud providers. One analysis said Google, Amazon and Microsoft own more than 90 percent of data centres in the UK. Experts said firms should build more resilience, spread services across providers and locations, and be ready to switch when one fails. Some said the UK had lost digital sovereignty in key areas after years of dependence on US tech firms. Consumer group Which? said customers should keep records of extra costs, such as missed bill penalties or overdraft charges, because compensation may be available when disruption causes financial loss. Advice also included carrying some cash and not relying on a single bank.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Widely reported · 3 or more of 4 channels | ||||
| Google reported network failures across multiple cloud services in an outage that affected dozens of apps and disrupted businesses including banks and delivery services. | Not reported by BBC One | |||
| Reported by a few · 2 channels | ||||
| Google said an issue with its security operations was being addressed and its engineering team was investigating as it worked to restore full availability. | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | ||
| Lloyds, Revolut and HSBC were among banks experiencing disruption, with some customers reporting problems making payments and accessing funds. | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by ITV | |
| Only on one channel | ||||
| A power event caused an outage at the Europe West 2B data-centre cluster in London. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by ITV | |
| Court live streams were disrupted, affecting some magistrates court hearings. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by ITV | |
| Experts assessed that the outage was not believed to pose a security issue. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | |
| NHS England and UK government websites appeared to have been affected. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by ITV | |
| Revolut confirmed that customer money and data were safe. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | |
| The outage took about seven hours to resolve. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by ITV | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4's early summary treated the outage as a brief breaking item alongside other stories, naming Lloyds and Revolut, NHS England and government sites and citing dozens of apps. Its later report shifted to aftermath and accountability, tracing the outage from a London data centre to global knock-on effects and the UK's reliance on US cloud providers. It reported services coming back online, Google's power-event explanation, no evidence of malicious activity, and the likely economic cost of failed transactions and missed deliveries.
- “A Google Cloud outage has caused problems for a number of businesses, including banks and delivery services, which has hit dozens of apps.”
- “the tech giant blamed what it called a power event for the outage”
- “sources at google have said there is no evidence of nefarious activity”
5 gave rolling updates, first with a short lunchtime item on network failures at Google Cloud and problems at Lloyds and HSBC. Its later studio analysis widened the list of affected brands, put the outage at a London data centre, said it was not a cyber attack and raised concerns about reliance on cloud providers.
- “Google says multiple cloud services are suffering from network failures.”
- “Hundreds of websites and apps went down around 7am this morning.”
- “it was an IT glitch. There was a power outage at Google's cloud services business.”
ITV1 treated the outage as a major consumer and cyber story, leading on potential millions affected and listing banks, delivery firms and court hearings. Its evening bulletin moved to recovery and compensation, reporting that Revolut had resolved its problems and that customer money and data were safe, and advising viewers to keep records of extra costs.
- “A major cyber outage has hit banking customers, delivery firms and even court hearings.”
- “Revolut says all its customers' money and data is safe, and they've just put out a new statement tonight saying that the problem is now resolved.”
- “So what you can expect is compensation when this disruption has caused you extra costs.”
BBC ONE West gave the most analytical broadcast, using its cyber correspondent to explain how a London data centre power event cascaded through everyday services. It focused on public dependency on a few giant tech firms, the seven-hour repair, and practical resilience advice such as carrying cash or spreading banking services.
- “Yeah, it's another reminder of how reliant we are on these giant tech firms like Google without even necessarily realising it.”
- “It all comes down to what Google is saying is a power event caused an outage at the Europe West 2B zone.”
- “it took about seven hours to fix this.”
Who was on air
People and organisations each channel put on air while covering this story. Channels' own presenters and reporters are not listed. Names as transcribed, and the list can miss people.
- 19:36 BST
Tim Crowley, on holiday in vietnam
Channel 4 News · Tue 20 Oct
- 13:34 BST
Dr Junaid Ali, tech expert
ITV Lunchtime News · Tue 20 Oct
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.