A Google Cloud outage in the London region knocked Spotify, Revolut, Halifax and several UK public services offline on Tuesday, 20 October 2026. Google blamed a “power event” and said most workloads were back by mid-afternoon UK time.
If your banking app or music stream failed this morning, it wasn’t your phone or your Wi-Fi. Here’s what happened, who was hit, and what you can do next time.
Quick facts:
- Region affected: europe-west2 (London), not Europe-wide, per Google
- Started: around 7:00am UK time on 20 October 2026
- Cause given by Google: a “power event”
- Hit: Spotify, Revolut, Halifax/Lloyds, NHS app reports, Royal Mail tracking, Rightmove and more
- Status: recovery confirmed for most workloads by about 1:50pm UK time, with some services slower to return
That’s the 10-second version. The details below explain the timeline and the practical side.
How the Google Cloud outage unfolded
According to Tom’s Guide’s live coverage, the first problems showed up around 7am UK time. The app maker Emma reported its London services were down at roughly that point.
Google’s own status page didn’t flag “elevated errors and intermittent network failures” in europe-west2 until about 10:27am. That’s a long gap for users staring at error screens.
| UK time | What happened |
|---|---|
| ~7:00am | First reports of apps failing in London |
| ~10:27am | Google’s status page reports errors and intermittent network failures in europe-west2 |
| ~11:26am | Google cites a “power event” and says it’s been mitigated |
| ~12:01pm | Google targets full recovery of existing workloads by 2pm |
| ~1:50pm | Recovery confirmed for most workloads; some services still catching up |
Times come from the live blog, so treat them as approximate. Google’s final incident report may adjust them.
Which services went down
Revolut drew the most Downdetector reports. Its status page listed problems with sign-ups, stock trading, card payments and ATM withdrawals, though the company said customers’ money and data were safe.
Spotify was disrupted too. Halifax customers, and by extension Lloyds, had trouble with the app and website, and the bank told people they could still phone it.
The outage reached beyond consumer apps. Here’s the wider list reported so far:
| Service | Reported impact |
|---|---|
| Spotify | Disrupted, later reported as resolved |
| Revolut | Sign-ups, trading, card payments and ATM withdrawals affected |
| Halifax / Lloyds | App and website problems |
| NHS England / NHS app | Issues reported, some localised |
| Royal Mail and DPD | Tracking slow or website issues; deliveries reportedly unaffected |
| Rightmove | App affected, website slow |
| UK courts | Remote hearing livestreams down |
The UK Prime Minister’s office also said it was in contact with Google Cloud to help restore services, per the same report.
What caused the Google Cloud outage?
Google says a “power event” in the region caused it. It hasn’t published a full explanation yet, so details like which facility lost power, or why failover didn’t catch it, are still unknown.
Some commentators have guessed at a power surge. That’s speculation, not Google’s statement, so don’t treat it as confirmed.
It’s also worth being clear about what this wasn’t. Google and the affected companies described it as a technical outage, not a security incident. That’s a different problem from something like the Ivanti Connect Secure zero-day, where you actually have to patch something.
What you can do when a cloud outage hits
For everyday users, the honest answer is mostly wait. Restarting the app won’t help if the servers behind it are down.
A few things do help:
- Check the company’s status page or social account before resetting passwords or reinstalling apps.
- Don’t retry payments over and over. A failed card payment can still go through later and charge you twice.
- Keep a second payment method or a bit of cash handy for days like this.
Those habits cost nothing and save the most common headaches.
If you run your own apps on Google Cloud, this is a reminder to check where your workloads live. A single-region setup has no cover when that region has a bad day. Also keep your keys tidy, as covered in our guide on rotating exposed API keys, so an emergency migration isn’t also a security scramble.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Google Cloud outage over?
Google confirmed recovery for most workloads in europe-west2 by about 1:50pm UK time on 20 October 2026. It warned that some services could take longer to fully return to normal.
Was my money at risk during the Revolut outage?
Revolut said all customers’ money and data were safe. The issues were with features like card payments, ATM withdrawals and trading, not account security.
Why did so many different apps fail at once?
They share the same underlying cloud provider and, in many cases, the same London region. When that region has trouble, everything hosted there can fail together.
Did the outage affect the whole of Europe?
No. Google said the problem was concentrated in europe-west2, the London region, and was not Europe-wide.
Will Google publish a full explanation?
Large cloud providers usually publish an incident report after major outages. Google hasn’t published one for this event yet, so watch its status dashboard for the write-up.
Our take
One power problem in one region shouldn’t take down banks, hospitals’ apps and court livestreams at once, and the roughly three-hour gap before Google’s status page acknowledged it is the part that deserves hard questions. For you, the practical lesson is simple: don’t panic-reset anything, keep a backup way to pay, and wait for the post-incident report before drawing conclusions about the cause.
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