Google restores cloud services after outage disrupts UK banks and websites

Google Cloud confirmed on Tuesday evening that it has restored services at its London data centre after a power‑related incident knocked out a range of online platforms, including major UK banks, delivery firms and the courts. The outage began early in the morning at the “europe‑west2” region, a hub that hosts cloud workloads for many British businesses.

The disruption was traced to a “power event” in one of the smaller zones inside the data centre, labelled europe‑west2‑b. Google said the fault caused elevated errors and intermittent network failures across multiple services. Cloud providers such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft run regional clusters of servers that underpin everything from banking apps to government portals, so a single hiccup can ripple across the digital economy. The issue surfaced just after 08:00 BST, prompting Google’s service dashboard to flag widespread problems in the region.

Customers of Revolut, Lloyds Bank and HSBC reported being unable to move money, complete purchases or access account information. More than 1,500 outage alerts were logged for Revolut alone. The problem also hit Royal Mail, parcel carrier DPD, e‑bike rental service Forest and the video platform used for remote court hearings. One Revolut user, 25‑year‑old Rachael Ellen of Glasgow, said she could not pay for parking and was left uncertain about an incoming payment. “It was frustrating not knowing where the payment is or when I’ll receive it,” she told the BBC. A spokesperson for Revolut acknowledged that its services were disrupted as a direct result of the Google Cloud failure.

Google has pledged to publish a full post‑mortem on its public service‑health dashboard and apologized to affected customers. The episode highlights the growing reliance of essential services on a handful of cloud operators and may spur banks and public bodies to reassess their contingency plans. For now, the restored cloud infrastructure appears stable, but the incident serves as a reminder that even a brief power glitch can cascade into a nationwide digital slowdown.