Travel chaos across UK sparked by worldwide Microsoft outage with trains cancelled and passengers unable to buy tickets

BRTIS have been warned of travel chaos amid a major worldwide IT outage this morning.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has urged passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.

The parent company of Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern issued the alert across social media.

It read: “We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network.

“Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem.

“We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.

“Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected.

“We will provide additional updates when we can. In the meantime, please regularly check your journey before you travel.”

Gatwick Express also warned travellers they are “currently experiencing widespread IT issues” across the entire network.

Meanwhile, South Western Railway confirmed there will be major disruption for their passengers too.

“Due to IT issues across the South Western Railway network all ticket vending machines are currently non operational,” a message read on X.

“Please purchase your ticket online, on the train or speak to a member of station staff.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.”

It comes as television channels, airports and banks around the world have been hit by a huge outage causing Windows computers to suddenly shut down.

Sky News was this morning knocked off the air completely, with the outlet airing archive footage instead.

The Friday breakfast show was cancelled as baffled viewers say a statement “apologising” for disruption flash up on their screens.

Customers trying to access their banks this morning have also found they are locked out due to the IT problem.

Concerning reports further confirmed the outage has affected the London Stock Exchange – although it is still running.

And, Ryanair has now warned of “potential disruptions across the network”.

In a statement, the airline said: “Potential disruptions across the network (Fri 19 July) due to a global 3rd party system outage.

“Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling across the network on Fri 19 July should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight.

“We advise passengers to arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by this 3rd party IT issue, which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network.”

Manchester Airport has said the IT outage is only affecting Swissport, who handle some ground work for a few airlines.

Holidaymakers are still being checked-in manually which means delays for those travelling on flights supplied by Swissport.

A Manchester Airport spokesman confirmed passengers don’t need to change arrangements and “we don’t want people thinking they need to come to the airport earlier because that can cause overcrowding”. 

It comes as all American Airlines flights have been grounded across the pond due to the major outage.

Meanwhile, airborne flights are set to remain circling in airspace above until the issue has been resolved, confirmed the Federal Aviation Agency.

And, other major airlines United and Delta have stated no flights will be taking off.

In worrying reports, emergency service lines in the Unites States are understood to be affected.

There have been claims that 911 emergency lines are down in several states including Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio and Alaska.

Various Microsoft services in Japan and New Zealand are also battling tech issues this morning.

Elsewhere, Mumbai Airport is the latest to fall victim to the outage, which has seen check-in desks shut down for IndiGo, Akasa and Spice Jet flights.

Australian banks and supermarkets have now reported checkouts going down after being hit by the IT outage.