A massive IT outage is having a huge impact around the world with some major broadcasters including Sky dropping off air at around 5.30am this morning (19/7).
Britain's biggest train companies are warning passengers to expect disruption with far-reaching delays expected throughout the network. National Rail said there were "widespread IT issues across the entire network" with IT teams "actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem". Great Western say their services are currently running on time on most services but passengers should be aware that the IT outages may affect station departure boards, and prevent them from showing the correct information. A spokesperson for Great Western Railway said: “Due to an IT issue impacting several train operators, station departure boards may not be showing correctly.”
Some airlines are asking passengers to arrive at least three hours ahead of scheduled departure times. Ryanair wrote on X: "We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a global 3rd party IT outage which is out of our control. We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours before their scheduled departure time. "If you're due to travel today and have not already checked-in for your flight, you can do so at the airport. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this global 3rd party IT outage."
DownDetector - an outage monitoring site has listed a large amount of websites affected by the outage - in the UK alone, Sky, BT, Visa, Microsoft, Mastercard, Lloyds, Sainsbury's, British Airways and Tesco were all reportedly "downed". And multiple high street banks have also been struck by this morning's internet outage including Lloyds Bank, Santander and Nationwide Building Society.
Some GP surgeries have also been affected by the outage due to the online appointment systems being affected.
An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS is aware of a global IT outage and an issue with EMIS, an appointment and patient record system, which is causing disruption in the majority of GP practices.
“The NHS has long standing measures in place to manage the disruption, including using paper patient records and handwritten prescriptions, and the usual phone systems to contact your GP.
“There is currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services, so people should use these services as they usually would.
“Patients should attend appointments unless told otherwise. Only contact your GP if it’s urgent, and otherwise please use 111 online or call 111″.
It is not known what the cause of the outage is at this stage but Microsoft say they are taking mitigation actions.