Google Cloud has restored services following a power-related outage at its London data centre that disrupted several UK banks, businesses and public services.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, affecting Google’s UK cloud region, known as europe-west2. The disruption caused intermittent network failures and elevated error rates across multiple cloud services, leaving customers unable to access some online platforms.
Revolut, Lloyds Bank and HSBC were among the banking services associated with reported disruptions, while Royal Mail, DPD and e-bike rental provider Forest were also affected. HM Courts and Tribunals Service reported problems with the video platform used for remote court hearings.
Google Cloud apologised to affected customers and confirmed that services had been restored by Tuesday evening.
A company spokesperson said the disruption originated at a third-party facility within its europe-west2 region following a power-related incident. Google said it would publish a detailed analysis through its service health dashboard.
Banking Customers Face Access Problems
Banking services were among the most visibly affected during the outage, with customers reporting difficulties accessing accounts, completing transactions and managing payments.
Revolut customers experienced problems using the financial services app, with more than 1,500 reports of service disruptions recorded by an outage-monitoring platform shortly after 08:00 BST on Tuesday.
Rachael Ellen, a 25-year-old Revolut customer from Glasgow, told the BBC that she was unable to access her funds to pay for parking at a shopping centre.
She also reported difficulties viewing an incoming payment from a relative, leaving her uncertain about the transaction’s status.
Revolut later confirmed that its services had been restored, reassuring customers that their money and personal data remained safe throughout the incident. The company also apologised for the inconvenience.
Customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, which are all part of Lloyds Banking Group, reported problems with some online banking services.
Although Lloyds did not confirm whether Google’s outage was directly responsible for every reported issue, a spokesperson said the underlying problems appeared to have been resolved and services were expected to return to normal.
Small Businesses Suffer Operational Disruptions
The outage also affected businesses that depend on cloud-based platforms to manage orders, process payments and coordinate deliveries.
Guy Baybutt, who works for family-run food supplier The Veg Box Company in Preston, said the business was unable to access its website to download and process customer orders.
The company also experienced difficulties booking parcels through DPD’s delivery system, putting scheduled shipments at risk of delays.
Customers were simultaneously unable to access the website to place new orders, resulting in lost sales during the disruption.
Baybutt described the incident as particularly challenging for small businesses, which often lack the financial resources of larger organisations to absorb unexpected losses.
He added that the interruption was especially problematic because the company handles fresh and perishable produce that must reach customers promptly.
The experience highlighted how a technical failure at a major cloud provider can affect businesses far beyond the technology sector.
Why Google Cloud’s Outage Affected So Many Services
Google Cloud provides computing infrastructure and digital services to organisations worldwide. Like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, it operates data centres across multiple geographical regions to support customers’ websites, applications and business systems.
Google’s UK region, europe-west2, experienced elevated errors and intermittent network failures on Tuesday morning. The company later attributed the disruption to a power event affecting one of its smaller data centre zones, europe-west2-b.
Because many organisations rely on the same underlying cloud infrastructure, a failure at a single provider can trigger problems across seemingly unrelated services.
The incident also occurred approximately one year after an AWS outage disrupted more than 1,000 websites and online services, including UK banking platforms.
These repeated incidents have renewed concerns about the concentration of critical digital infrastructure among a small number of major cloud providers.
Experts Warn of Growing Dependence on Major Cloud Providers
Prof Feng Li, associate dean for research and innovation at Bayes Business School, said the disruption demonstrated how heavily modern economies depend on a handful of cloud computing companies.
He noted that the precise cause of the power-related problem had not yet been established publicly, while emphasising that failures are an inevitable risk in complex technological systems.
The more important considerations, he said, are the extent of the disruption, how quickly services recover and whether affected organisations have viable alternatives.
For businesses, the incident underscores the importance of developing contingency plans, maintaining appropriate backup systems and assessing their reliance on individual technology providers.
Organisations may also need to consider whether critical services can continue operating during a cloud outage, particularly when disruptions affect banking, logistics, public administration and customer-facing platforms.
Google Confirms Service Restoration
Google Cloud said the disruption had been resolved and services restored by Tuesday evening. The company also pledged to provide further information through its service health dashboard.
Although normal operations have resumed, the incident highlights the potential consequences of relying on centralised cloud infrastructure to support essential services.
As businesses increasingly move their operations online, ensuring resilience against power failures, network disruptions and other infrastructure problems is becoming an important priority for technology providers and their customers.
