On a Friday the 13th in November, a fault deep inside Microsoft's cloud reached far beyond the software itself, reminding those who depend on it how much of ordinary life now rests on a few shared digital foundations. Across Britain, a supermarket could not let new shoppers finish signing up, police and health staff fell back on phones and paper, and courtrooms sent jurors home early. Microsoft, having first watched its restored servers fail repeatedly, has now brought most of its services back toward normal, though the full account of what went wrong is still to come.
Microsoft Global Outage Disrupts UK Supermarket Asda, Police, NHS and Schools Across 60 Countries
NHS 111 and 999 referrals and prescriptions face backlogs and delays, though the London Ambulance Service reported no impact on patient care.
On a Friday the 13th in November, a fault deep inside Microsoft's cloud reached far beyond the software itself, reminding those who depend on it how much of ordinary life now rests on a few shared digital foundations. Across Britain, a supermarket could not let new shoppers finish signing up, police and health staff fell back on phones and paper, and courtrooms sent jurors home early. Microsoft, having first watched its restored servers fail repeatedly, has now brought most of its services back toward normal, though the full account of what went wrong is still to come.
The trouble began on a Thursday night, when a notice on Asda's website told new customers they could not finish registering and that passwords and email addresses could not be changed. Asda blamed a global Microsoft disruption, though its shops across the country kept trading as normal. What looked like a single retailer's glitch turned out to be part of a wider failure, with Outlook, Teams and Copilot faltering and people in dozens of countries unable to send or receive email. Downdetector recorded reports from 74 countries within an hour, and by Friday the trouble still touched around sixty.
Microsoft spent the night bringing servers back, only to watch them crash again, before a patch seemed to hold on part of its infrastructure and the fix was carried into other regions. Recovery moved from Asia Pacific onward, and by early afternoon the company said its email queues were nearly back to normal. It acknowledged that some users might still face patchy access or delayed messages, and it said a report on the root cause would follow. It also said there was no sign of malicious activity.
The effects reached into public life. Several police forces, including the Met, asked people with non-urgent matters to ring 101 while keeping 999 for emergencies. In Northern Ireland, schools and the Education Authority lost their email, and councils in Northamptonshire and the Welsh Government leaned on backup arrangements. Health services felt the strain most in the queues: GMB warned that 111 and 999 referrals could not be passed on as usual, while NHS England fell back on paper and older procedures. The London Ambulance Service said patient care had not been affected, and pharmacies warned that slower contact with GP practices could mean longer waits for some prescriptions.
In Manchester, jurors at Minshull Street Crown Court were sent home early, and the judge joked wryly that he would apologise though the fault was not his. Small firms, too, braced for trouble, and the Federation of Small Businesses asked clients for patience while the National Cyber Security Centre warned that scammers might use the confusion to sell fake help. With services now described as largely restored, what remains open is how soon the lingering glitches disappear and what Microsoft's explanation of the failure will reveal.
On Asda's website, a notice told shoppers that new customers could not finish registering, and that nobody could reset a password or change an email address. The supermarket blamed an ongoing global Microsoft service disruption. Its stores across the UK stayed open and fully operational, and other major UK supermarkets appeared unaffected.
Asda was one of many organisations caught by an outage that began late on Thursday and was still being worked through on Friday. Outlook, Teams and Copilot were disrupted, along with other Microsoft 365 services. Thousands of users worldwide reported being unable to send or receive email through Outlook. Downdetector said users in 74 countries reported problems within an hour on Thursday, including in the UK, the US, India and New Zealand. Outlook reports peaked at more than 2,000 times their normal level. By Friday, users in about 60 countries, mainly in Europe and Asia, were still reporting trouble. The Express reported that OpenAI also had issues.
Microsoft said it had restored servers several times overnight UK time, only for them to crash again. Its status page later said a patch to an upstream authentication and routing configuration component had produced positive results on part of its infrastructure, and that it was working to extend it to servers in regions coming online. The company said it knew of no malicious activity behind the incident. Later updates described early signs of stabilisation, with capacity not yet back to normal as traffic was reintroduced carefully. Recovery began with the Asia Pacific region and moved gradually across others. By early afternoon Microsoft said email queues were significantly reduced and approaching normal levels, though some users might still see intermittent access problems or delayed delivery. It promised a post-incident report on the root cause.
The public sector felt it sharply. Police forces including the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside and Northamptonshire reported problems. The Met said some online form submissions might be affected and asked people with time-critical, non-emergency reports to call 101, with 999 for emergencies. In Northern Ireland, the Education Authority said Outlook was unavailable to schools and to the authority itself, so email could not be sent or received. North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire councils were affected, and the Welsh Government said it was using contingency arrangements. The UK Government said it had robust contingency plans in place to limit disruption to services.
Health services faced backlogs. The GMB Union said 111 and 999 services could not refer patient details in the usual way, creating what national secretary Rachel Harrison called a massive backlog with the potential for chaos. She said emergency and life-threatening call-outs appeared unaffected. NHS England said staff were enacting long-standing measures, including paper records, and urged patients to keep using 999 and 111 and to attend appointments as usual. The London Ambulance Service said there had been no impact on its patients or operational services. The National Pharmacy Association warned that pharmacies' access to NHS email was affected, limiting contact with GP practices and some patients, so waits could be longer and some prescriptions delayed.
The courts were hit too. At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, jurors were sent home early. Judge Maurice Greene told them the outage had caused all sorts of delays, noting that the court and connected institutions rely on Microsoft 365. He said he would apologise but it was not his fault, adding that it might be Mr Gates's fault but he doubted Gates would come to apologise. Great Western Railway also posted a message about being affected.
Small firms were bracing too. Tina McKenzie, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said they would be left floundering and asked clients to be patient, given that it fell on Friday the 13th. She also warned that criminals might exploit the confusion with fake offers of help, and the National Cyber Security Centre issued a scam warning.
With services described as gradually restored, the questions now are how quickly intermittent problems clear and what Microsoft's promised root-cause report says.
Citations marquantes
The Microsoft data outage is having a serious impact across ambulance and NHS trusts.— Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary
Email queues are significantly reduced and approaching normal levels, though some users may still see intermittent access issues.— Microsoft status update
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