Bristol Airport, NHS and Longleat among South West places hit by global Microsoft IT outage
Health and transport services in the West Country are among those affected by a major IT outage affecting institutions and businesses across the world.
Bristol Airport, Bristol Water, Longleat and NHS services are just some of the organisations affected in the South West.
We'll bring you the latest below...
Bristol Airport
Bristol Airport has confirmed people could face disruption on Friday 19 July because of the issue.
Bosses at the airport are urging passengers to contact their airline for the most up-to-date flight information.
Customers are also being advised to bring cash, as some retailers on site are unable to take card payments.
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport said: “This is a global IT issue and is impacting aviation across the world – we expect to see some disruption to travel later today.
"We advise all customers to contact their airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the Airport.
"There is no impact to passport control at eGates currently. Most restaurants and retailers are now accepting card payments, but we recommend bringing some cash."
NHS services - including GPs
The IT outage is “causing disruption in the majority of GP practices” in England but there is currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services, NHS England said.
NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly said their IT systems and some of its GP surgeries are being affected.
Patients are being advised to attend GP or hospital appointments unless told otherwise.
A spokesperson for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly said: "We know that IT systems at some GP surgeries are impacted and we kindly ask that people only call their surgery if they have an urgent medical reason until the issue is resolved.
"We are currently investigating the situation to understand the extent of the issue and we will continue to provide updates as we know more.
"During this time please continue to attend your GP or hospital appointment unless you are advised otherwise.
"Thank you for your understanding and for being patient with our staff, who are doing their best to ensure people with the most urgent health needs are seen first over this time."
Longleat
Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire said they are experiencing issues.
A spokesperson said: "We are sorry but due to issues we are experiencing because of the impact of the world-wide IT outage, only our drive-through Safari Park will be open this morning – 19 July.
"You will be directed to that entrance on arrival."
Bristol Water
Bristol Water said it is experiencing company wide IT issues but the billing department remains operating.
On X, formerly Twitter, the company posted: “Please be aware we are experiencing company wide IT Issues – we are still able to take emergency calls at this time.
“At the moment the billing department remain operating as usual.
“Sorry for any inconvenience, we are working on getting back to normal as soon as possible.”
What caused the IT outage?
Writing on X, the president of cyber security firm CrowdStrike, George Kurtz said the problem was caused by a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”.
He said: “This is not a security incident or cyber attack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.
“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.
“We further recommend organisations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
“Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”
Mr Kurtz said the issue was not affecting Mac or Linux software.