Google Cloud Outage Disrupts European Banking and Key Services
Widespread technical issues affect major banking apps, Royal Mail, and Rightmove across Europe, prompting an ongoing investigation by Google.
Carla Rooney
Google Cloud services experienced widespread outages across Europe starting around 7am UK time.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) confirmed critical problems with its cloud video platform. This system, vital for court hearings, failed, directly impeding judicial proceedings.
Users nationwide reported significant issues with major financial institutions. Lloyds Bank, HSBC, and Halifax customers faced immediate service interruptions.
We’re sorry about this and are working hard to fix it.
Halifax, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, acknowledged the widespread problems. The bank stated 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."
More than 1,500 people reported problems with Revolut on Tuesday morning, Downdetector confirmed. Revolut customers found themselves unable to open the app or use their cards for payments, including digital transactions.
Revolut confirmed a service disruption had affected multiple services. A Revolut spokesperson stated, "We can confirm that all our customers’ money and data are safe," and added, "We’re been working to fix the issue since it was identified this morning and apologise to anyone affected and for any inconvenience caused."
Beyond banking, the outage extended its reach across diverse sectors. Royal Mail, DPD, and Rightmove users also reported substantial problems.
Budgeting app Emma confirmed its services were down due to the Google Cloud outage. The app later reported it was back online.
Emma is up and running again after this morning’s Google Cloud power outage in London. Your data and money were safe throughout.
Emma stated, "Emma is up and running again after this morning’s Google Cloud power outage in London." The company assured users, "Your data and money were safe throughout."
Google Cloud confirmed customer money and data remained safe. Google stated, "Our engineering team continues to investigate the issue," and apologised to "all who are affected by the disruption."
By early Tuesday afternoon, Google reported recovery for most workloads in the affected region. The company's engineering team continues to investigate the root cause of the problem.
Cloud service companies provide networking and storage services at scale, enabling users to connect to websites. Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services have experienced similar incidents in recent years.
Google faces further legal action in the UK on behalf of advertisers following this incident.