Microsoft Outage Disrupts Email Across North West Services
A worldwide Microsoft outage has disrupted most workplaces and public services across the north-west of England. Airports and hospitals said their services were running as normal.
Servers under unusual strain
The disruption began on Thursday and hit Microsoft's email, messaging and other online services. Teams, Outlook and the AI software Copilot were all affected.
Microsoft said the cause was higher-than-usual stress on its servers. On Friday afternoon it reported improvements, with email queues approaching normal levels.
Police, airports and the NHS
Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside police forces posted notices on their websites. They said online forms and live chat had problems, and advised people to call 101 for time-critical non-emergency reports.
Manchester and Liverpool airports both said the outage had not affected operational systems. A Manchester Airport spokesman said the impact was limited to its corporate set-up and what he called "minor technical processes". He added that the work-around for domestic passengers is an established process. Liverpool John Lennon Airport said it was business as usual.
NHS and fire services warned of email problems. Patients were urged to attend appointments as normal. North West Ambulance said there was no impact on its ability to respond to patients. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said its mobilising system was working as normal, though it could not access responses to contact forms on its website.
At Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, A&Es stayed open, but people with minor ailments might wait longer than normal. Other trusts reported email problems. Pennine Care said the main impact was on staff emails, and the trusts said hospital and community services continued as normal.
Schools, councils and courts
Schools across the North West contacted parents with other ways to reach them. Fleetwood High School asked parents to phone for urgent matters. Most Lancashire councils reported email problems. On Merseyside, Liverpool City Council said officers could not respond to emails and that other services might be affected.
Some criminal trials were delayed. At Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, a judge apologised to the jury and said: "We are learning of the dangers of relying on computers and data systems."
Pharmacies and house sales
Pharmacies in Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire found it harder to reach GP practices and some patients. The National Pharmacy Association warned that waits for prescriptions might be longer.
Some house buyers worried about their transactions, since Friday is often completion day. Bilal Khawaja of Integra Solicitors in Stockport said staff could still complete by phone. His firm's email had been down since Thursday evening. No immediate deadlines had been hit, he said, but prolonged disruption could cause more serious problems.
The University of Manchester told staff to expect problems with Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. It advised using phone calls or texts for urgent matters.
Source: BBC News