Google Cloud services are recovering after a power event at its London data centre disrupted banks, delivery services, and court video links in the UK.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
Google Cloud has stated that its services are recovering following an outage that affected banks, businesses, and courts in the United Kingdom. The disruption was caused by a "power event" at the company's London data centre, identified as the "Europe-west2" region. The incident began late on Monday and persisted into Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
Several major financial institutions reported service interruptions. Revolut, which serves millions of customers, confirmed that multiple systems were down or partially unavailable, including card payments, transfers, cash withdrawals, and account sign-ins. According to the Downdetector platform, more than 1,500 people reported problems with Revolut earlier on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Revolut stated: "We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services. We can confirm that all our customers’ money and data are safe. We’ve been working to fix the issue since it was identified this morning and apologise to anyone affected and for any inconvenience caused."
Customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax, and HSBC also reported issues. Halifax, owned by Lloyds Banking Group, responded to users on X stating it was "aware some customers are having issues with our app and online," adding: "We’re sorry about this and are working hard to fix it." A Lloyds spokesperson later told the BBC that "we understand the root issues have been resolved, so we expect all our services to be back to normal soon."
The HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) experienced issues with its cloud video platform, which is used for secure video-links to court hearings in England and Wales. The Criminal Bar Association reported that prosecution and defence barristers could not "proceed with trials and other hearings" due to the disruption.
Mr Justice Bennathan, the judge for the trial of Russell Brand at Southwark Crown Court, noted there had been "problems with Google" but confirmed the system was back up and running. Journalists using the platform reported it began working shortly after Google’s noon update.
Other affected services included delivery company DPD, e-bike service Forest, Royal Mail, and property platform Rightmove. Budgeting app Emma announced on X: "Emma is up and running again after this morning’s Google Cloud power outage in London. Your data and money were safe throughout. Some balances may take a little while to refresh. Thanks for your patience."
Google apologized for the incident, stating: "We apologise to all who are affected by the disruption." The company identified the cause as a "power event" in the "Europe-west2" region, which is believed to be London. By early afternoon on Tuesday, Google said it was seeing the "recovery of services for most workloads" in the region.
Google suggested a possible workaround for affected customers was to "try to migrate their workload impacted to another available location (zone or region)." The company stated it would publish an analysis of the incident once it had completed an internal investigation.
The outage highlights the reliance of essential public and private services on a small number of cloud infrastructure providers. Sam Richardson, editor of Which? Money, said people will be "rightly concerned" about outages that could "prevent people making essential purchases or even paying their bills." He advised customers to consider having back-ups in place, such as a card with a different bank and emergency cash.
Prof Feng Li, associate dean for research & innovation at Bayes Business School, noted that the outage is a reminder of how deeply economies depend on just a handful of cloud providers. "Large cloud systems are complex, and failures will happen," he said. "What matters is how far they spread, how quickly services recover and whether customers have workable alternatives."
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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