Google Cloud outage disrupts UK banking, courts, and logistics

A power-related event at Google Cloud’s London data center, specifically within the ‘europe-west2’ region, caused widespread service disruptions across the United Kingdom on October 20, 2026. The outage began around 07:00 BST, impacting a variety of critical sectors including finance, legal services, and logistics.

Financial institutions such as Revolut, Lloyds Bank, and HSBC experienced issues with banking applications. Revolut reported receiving over 1,500 outage reports, though a spokesperson confirmed that customer money and data remained secure. Other affected entities included the HM Courts and Tribunals Service, which reported disruptions to its remote video hearing platform.

Logistics and retail operations were also hit, with Royal Mail, DPD, and various smaller businesses reporting difficulties processing orders or booking collections. The incident has highlighted the systemic risks associated with the heavy reliance of major economies on a small number of cloud infrastructure providers.