A power failure at Google Cloud’s London region knocked out Revolut, Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC services for hours on Oct. 20, 2026. Here’s what happened, whether your money is safe, how to claim back costs, and how to avoid getting stuck next time.
A power failure at Google Cloud’s London region knocked out Revolut, Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC services for hours on Oct. 20, 2026. Here’s what happened, whether your money is safe, how to claim back costs, and how to avoid getting stuck next time.
Kara
A power failure at one of Google Cloud’s London data centre zones knocked out banking apps, card payments and public services across the UK on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Revolut, Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC customers were among those who couldn’t log in, pay or move money for several hours. Services have since been restored, and the banks say customers’ money and data were never at risk. Below is what happened, who was affected, what you can claim if the outage cost you money, and how to make sure the next one doesn’t leave you stuck at a till.
Google said the disruption was caused by a “power event” at a third-party facility in its europe-west2 cloud region, the London-based cluster of data centres that serves customers across the UK and Europe. The problem was traced to one of the region’s smaller zones, europe-west2-b, according to BBC News.
The incident began just after 6 a.m. London time, The Journal reported, citing Google’s service health updates. Google’s own Cloud status dashboard lists the incident as closed, with a total duration of 7 hours and 52 minutes and more than 35 Google Cloud products affected in the region. Outages are not the only threat to everyday retail tech; read how hackers overheated fridges at 700 supermarkets.
Recovery came in stages. Google said most workloads were recovering just after midday, and The Guardian reported that services were back for most customers by around 3 p.m. Some apps that depend on Google Cloud took longer to fully catch up. Google has said it will publish an analysis of the incident once its internal investigation is complete.
Because so many companies run their apps and back-end systems on the same cloud provider, one failure spread to dozens of seemingly unrelated services. Reports included:
The human side was very ordinary and very frustrating. One Revolut customer from Glasgow told the BBC she couldn’t pay for parking at a shopping centre because her account wasn’t working, and couldn’t see a payment a relative had sent her. For another recent case of customers being cut off from their money, see our guide to the Binance hack and whether your funds are safe.
Yes. An outage like this is an access problem, not a problem with your balance. Revolut said “all our customers’ money and data are safe,” and later told the BBC that services were “fully restored” and that money and data “remained safe throughout.” Lloyds and HSBC also said their services had returned to normal.
Your money also keeps its usual legal protections during an outage. At UK banks, eligible deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £120,000 per person, per bank. E-money accounts work differently: instead of FSCS cover, providers must keep customers’ funds safeguarded in separate accounts. If you’re not sure which applies to you, your account details or your provider’s terms will say.
Don’t expect a payout just for the inconvenience. But if the outage cost you actual money, you can ask your bank to put it right. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in a statement: “People need to be able to access their money and make payments, so we expect firms to fix issues quickly, keep their customers informed and ensure no one is left out of pocket.”
Examples of losses worth raising include:
Most of the apps you use every day don’t run on their own computers. They rent capacity from a handful of giant cloud companies, mainly Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google. That’s efficient, but it means one fault can hit many brands at once. If you want the business case for why companies do this, our explainer on cloud-managed services in modern business operations covers the basics.
Regulators already saw this risk coming. In July, the UK brought Google Cloud, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Oracle under direct oversight as “critical third parties” to the financial sector, Reuters reported, specifically because one outage could disrupt many firms together. Tuesday’s incident is the first major test of that regime. The FCA and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority are talking to Google, and Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury Committee, has written to the regulators asking how they responded and what the total impact was, with an initial reply requested by November 4. Google is also fighting California over kids’ online rules — Meta, Google and TikTok sued to block AB 1709.
It isn’t the first cascade, either. Almost exactly a year ago, an Amazon Web Services failure in its us-east-1 region lasted about 15 hours and disrupted services worldwide, The Guardian noted. Internet infrastructure expert Michał Woźniak told the paper: “Hyperscalers have become too big to not fail.”
You can’t stop a data centre losing power, but a few low-effort habits mean an outage becomes an annoyance rather than a crisis:
Small steps like these are part of the wider sense of financial confidence that makes surprises easier to handle.
No. Revolut told the BBC that services were fully restored after Tuesday’s disruption, and its system status page is the best place to check live status.
Google blamed a “power event” at a third-party facility in its europe-west2 (London) cloud region, affecting the europe-west2-b zone. A full analysis is expected on Google’s status dashboard.
Google’s status dashboard lists the incident at 7 hours and 52 minutes. It started just after 6 a.m. London time, and most services were back by mid-afternoon, though some apps took longer to fully recover.
Not for inconvenience alone, but you can claim back direct costs such as late fees or failed-payment charges. Complain to your bank first, then go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you’re not satisfied after eight weeks.
Featured photo: Aerial view of a Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa (illustrative; not the London facility involved), by Chad Davis, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0.
Five minutes, every Sunday. Free.
Clear, useful guides on money, health, tech, home and everyday life, one small step at a time.
© 2026 StepByStore. All rights reserved.
Disclosure: some articles include sponsored or guest contributions. Commercial links in those articles are marked as sponsored. Learn more in our Editorial Policy.
