Planes, trains and health services hit in IT meltdown

Cyber attack ruled out as worldwide chaos brings huge queues at airports

- Rachael Burford and Josh Salisbury

AIRLINES, banks, train companies, GP surgeries and media organisations were among the institutions hit by a major worldwide IT outage today.

Crisis management officials in Whitehall were working on a response to the crash as the government was expected to call an emergency meeting later.

Businesses around the world were knocked offline over the issue believed to have been caused by a faulty security update affecting Microsoft Windows .

On the weekend after most schools broke up for the summer holidays, major disruption was reported on train services across the country as Britain’s largest rail company Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern, reported “widespread” computer issues.

Passengers also faced long queues and waits lasting several hours at airports as boarding passes would not scan and security checks had to be completed manually. A spokesman for Gatwick warned flyers would “experience delays while checking in and passing through security”. Heathrow said: “Flights are operational and we are implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys.”