UK crisis team convenes after global IT outage

The British government said Friday that it had activated its civil contingencies committee to handle the response to a global IT outage that hit UK transport and health services.

Cabinet Secretary Pat McFadden said that ministers in affected sectors were working with business leaders and that he was “in close contact with teams coordinating our response through the COBR response system”.

COBR, also called COBRA, is convened to handle national emergencies or major disruptions, and coordinates decision-making between government departments.

This comes the same day banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, and TV and radio broadcasters across the globe were affected by a Microsoft outage.

ALSO READ: Capitec, Airlink hit by Microsoft global outage

Govia Thameslink Railway, the UK’s largest rail franchise, said it was facing “widespread IT issues” on its four rail networks serving areas across London, east England, south England and London Gatwick Airport.

“We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations,” it posted on X, adding that customer information platforms were also affected.

South Western Railway said its trains were running well, but “some retail systems and ticket machines at stations are down”.

Low-cost airline Ryanair said it was facing disruption due to the “global third-party IT outage”.

Airports including London Luton, Belfast and Edinburgh warned of longer waiting times for passengers because of the glitch, which was apparently caused by an update to an antivirus programme.

Transport for Ireland, which runs public transport including buses and rail services, said its apps were down.

ALSO READ: What’s up with WhatsApp? Messenger back up after hours-long global outage

A London Heathrow airport spokesperson said that while the outage was “impacting select systems”, flights were operational.

General practitioners (GPs) across Britain were also affected by the outage, unable to access patient records or book appointments.

A National Health Service (NHS) spokesperson said there was an issue with its appointment and patient record service “causing disruption in the majority” of GP services.

There was no known impact on emergency services, the NHS added.

The National Pharmacy Association also said some community pharmacies were hit by the outage, which was “affecting prescription access from GPs and medicine deliveries.”

© Agence France-Presse