TLDR
- Google Cloud said its UK services were fully restored after an hours-long outage on Tuesday.
- Google blamed a “power event” at a third-party facility in its London-based europe-west2 region.
- Revolut, Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Royal Mail, DPD and NHS England were among the services users reported problems with.
- The UK placed Google Cloud, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Oracle under direct oversight in July.
- Google plans to publish an analysis of the incident on its service health dashboard.
Google Cloud said on Tuesday that its UK cloud services were back up after an outage that lasted several hours. The disruption hit banks, delivery firms and public sector websites.
🚨BREAKING: A POWER OUTAGE at Google's London Cloud data center triggers WIDESPREAD disruptions across UK banking and online services, BBC reports.
Major services, including Revolut, HSBC, and Royal Mail, were affected, alongside court video links, raising concerns over reliance… pic.twitter.com/SS3oXKFC5o
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 20, 2026
The problem began early Tuesday in europe-west2, Google’s cloud region based in London. Google’s status page reported “elevated errors and intermittent network failures” in the region.
What Went Wrong
Google later said a “power event” caused the issue. It happened at a third-party facility in europe-west2-b, one of the region’s smaller data center zones.
Alphabet’s Google Cloud apologised to affected customers and thanked them for their patience. A spokesperson said services had been restored.
Downdetector showed reports of problems at Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Rightmove, DPD, NHS England and Royal Mail. The site collects reports from users, so actual impact may vary.
Revolut said card payments and ATM withdrawals were affected. The company said customer money and data stayed safe throughout.
Due to a recent Google Cloud outage, customers may have experienced temporary service disruption on the Revolut app today.
The issue has now been fixed, and services are now restored.
All our customers’ money and data is safe, and has remained safe throughout this incident. We…
— Revolut (@Revolut) October 20, 2026
More than 1,500 reports about Revolut were logged shortly after 8 a.m. BST. Revolut later confirmed its services were fully restored.
Customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland also reported problems with some online banking. Lloyds Banking Group said the root issues were resolved and services should return to normal soon.
HSBC said it knew some customers had trouble accessing its services. Royal Mail said letter and parcel deliveries were not affected.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service said a video platform used for remote hearings was affected. Rightmove, DPD and NHS England did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
ING Germany also flagged issues with its website and app. The bank said there was no sign they were linked to an outside cause or third-party providers.
Impact on Customers and Businesses
Revolut customer Rachael Ellen told the BBC she could not pay for parking because her account was not working. She said she also could not see an incoming transaction.
Guy Baybutt of The Veg Box Company said his firm could not access its website to process orders. He said it also could not book parcels with DPD, and that the outage cost the business sales.
The outage came one year after an Amazon Web Services outage knocked more than 1,000 sites offline, including UK banks. In July, the UK placed Google Cloud, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Oracle under direct regulatory oversight as critical suppliers to the financial sector.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it is engaging with Google and affected firms to understand the impact. Google was also among 19 technology firms that EU regulators named as critical providers last year.
Google said it will publish an analysis of the incident on its service health dashboard. Prof Feng Li of Bayes Business School said it is not yet clear what caused the power problem.
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