Power outage at Google London datacentre disrupts banks, courts and NHS app

Cloud failure in europe-west2-b zone hit multiple UK services before being resolved

By LineZotpaper

Published20 October 2026

Read Time3 min

A power outage at a Google datacentre in London caused widespread disruption to UK services on Tuesday morning, with banking apps faltering, court video hearings put on hold and patients reporting glitches on the NHS app. Google said services had been restored and blamed a power event at a third-party facility.

The outage hit Google's europe-west2-b zone in London, one of more than a dozen zones the search giant operates in Europe. According to outage-tracking website Downdetector, affected services included Royal Mail, Revolut, HSBC and Lloyds bank. Problems appeared to peak at about 9am and had largely eased by mid-afternoon, based on reports submitted to Downdetector.

Revolut confirmed "a service disruption affecting multiple services," but said "all our customers' money and data are safe." Lloyds said its app was working, but "we understand some [people] are having issues with certain online services this morning." The HM Courts and Tribunal Service, which runs remote video hearings across England and Wales, said it was "aware of an issue affecting Cloud Video Platform" and was "working with our technology partners to restore service."

A Google spokesperson said: "We have resolved a disruption to Google Cloud services at a third-party facility in our europe-west2 cloud region due to a power event. Services have been restored. We will update our public status dashboard with an analysis of the incident."

Internet infrastructure expert Michał "rysiek" Woźniak said the outage was a reminder of the increasing concentration of vital services on a few "hyperscaler" companies. "Hyperscalers have become too big to not fail," he said. "They've become so deeply ingrained into the very fabric of our digital lives that switching away from them seems unimaginable."

Up to 60% of the UK government's infrastructure is hosted on cloud services, mostly Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Woźniak argued it was "unreasonable to have a handful of gigantic companies whose outages time and again cause public institutions or large swaths of the digital economy to stop working en masse."

The disruption was not of the scale of last year's Amazon Web Services outage, which lasted about 15 hours and cascaded worldwide, taking down the Roblox game and Signal messaging app. That incident was later revealed to have been caused by a bug in automation software, and a separate outage by an AI tool. Woźniak pointed to Google's announcement this year that 75% of all new code is "now AI-generated and approved by engineers," and asked how that might affect reliability. "One can only wonder how that affects the reliability and quality of Google's services," he said.

Analysis

Why This Matters

The outage hit essential public services: court video hearings, the NHS app and major banks, showing how much everyday life depends on a handful of cloud providers.
Up to 60% of UK government infrastructure runs on cloud services, mostly from Amazon, Microsoft and Google, so a single company's failure can ripple across public institutions.
Google says services have been restored, but the incident renews questions about the resilience of concentrated cloud infrastructure.

Background

Cloud computing has become the backbone of modern digital services, with a small number of large providers, often called "hyperscalers," hosting data and operations for businesses and governments alike. This is not the first such failure. Last year an Amazon Web Services outage in Virginia lasted about 15 hours and caused knock-on effects worldwide. That incident was later attributed to a bug in automation software, and a separate AWS outage was linked to an AI tool. Google has said 75% of all its new code is now AI-generated and approved by engineers.

Key Perspectives

Google: The company says it resolved the disruption, which it attributes to a power event at a third-party facility in its europe-west2 region, and will publish an analysis of the incident on its status dashboard. Affected institutions: Revolut, Lloyds and the HM Courts and Tribunal Service confirmed disruptions but stressed that money, data and efforts to restore service were safe or underway. Internet infrastructure experts: Michał "rysiek" Woźniak argues the outage shows hyperscalers have become "too big to not fail," deeply embedded in digital life, and questions whether AI-generated code affects reliability.

What to Watch

Google's public status dashboard for the promised analysis of the incident's cause.
Whether any residual issues emerge for UK services in the coming days.
Whether repeated outages at hyperscalers prompt any government or regulatory response on cloud resilience.

Sources

Power outage at Google datacentre in London causes widespread disruption · UK news | The Guardian

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 10 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedA power outage at a Google datacentre in London disrupted UK services, including banking, court and NHS services.UK news | The Guardian: “A power outage hit a datacentre in London , and things cascaded from there: multiple banking services faltered, court hearings were put on hold and patients reported temporary glitches on the NHS app.”
Not in the sourcesThe disruption happened on Tuesday morning.UK news | The Guardian
SupportedThe disruption affected Google’s europe-west2-b zone.UK news | The Guardian: “The datacentre in question was in Google’s europe-west2-b zone”
SupportedGoogle said the disruption was resolved and resulted from a power event at a third-party facility.UK news | The Guardian: “We have resolved a disruption to Google Cloud services at a third-party facility in our europe-west2 cloud region due to a power event. Services have been restored.”
SupportedDowndetector reports listed Royal Mail, Revolut, HSBC and Lloyds among affected services.UK news | The Guardian: “The outages – which have affected, according to the website Downdetector, Royal Mail, Revolut, HSBC and Lloyds bank, among others”
SupportedProblems peaked at about 9am and had largely eased by mid-afternoon.UK news | The Guardian: “Today’s problems appeared to peak at about 9am, and by mid-afternoon were somewhat resolved, according to reports submitted to Downdetector.”
SupportedRevolut said there was “a service disruption affecting multiple services” and that “all our customers' money and data are safe.”UK news | The Guardian: “Revolut confirmed “a service disruption affecting multiple services”, but added that “all our customers’ money and data are safe”.”
SupportedHM Courts and Tribunal Service said it was aware of an issue affecting Cloud Video Platform and was working with technology partners to restore service.UK news | The Guardian: “HM Courts and Tribunal Service, which handles remote video hearings in courts across England and Wales, said it was “aware of an issue affecting Cloud Video Platform,” and was “working with our technology partners to restore service”.”
SupportedWoźniak said hyperscalers had become too big to fail and too embedded in digital life for switching away to seem imaginable.UK news | The Guardian: ““Hyperscalers have become too big to not fail. But worse, they’ve become so deeply ingrained into the very fabric of our digital lives that switching away from them seems unimaginable.””
SupportedUp to 60% of the UK government’s infrastructure is hosted on cloud services, mostly Amazon, Microsoft and Google.UK news | The Guardian: “Up to 60% of the UK government’s infrastructure is hosted on cloud services – mostly Amazon, Microsoft and Google.”
Partly supportedLast year’s AWS outage was not of the same scale as this disruption.UK news | The Guardian: “The outages – which have affected, according to the website Downdetector, Royal Mail, Revolut, HSBC and Lloyds bank, among others, are so far not of the scale of a similar cascade this time last year, when Amazon Web Services went down for nearly half a day.”
SupportedGoogle announced that 75% of all new code was “now AI-generated and approved by engineers.”UK news | The Guardian: “with 75% of all new code “now AI-generated and approved by engineers”.”