Britons warned of ‘weeks’ of disruption to summer travel after IT failure

Britons heading off on holiday have been warned of potential disruption to travel this weekend as Friday’s global IT outage continues to impact UK transport this weekend. Experts warn it could take weeks for systems to be fully restored, with flight delays and cancellations among the disruptions expected to continue into the weekend.

The disruption comes as schools close for the summer and thousands of families head off on holiday. Travel agency Abta urged holidaymakers to check with providers if there are any “extra steps” they need to take.

A spokesman said: “We are at the start of one of the busiest travel periods, with some schools finishing for the summer yesterday and many more next week. Many people will be flying abroad to escape the unusual weather that the UK has seen recently.

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“Spain, Turkey and Greece are among the popular destinations for overseas travel. If you are going on holiday this weekend – in any form – it is advisable to check with your travel company whether there are any additional steps you need to take, as some businesses are still feeling the impact of Friday’s IT outage.”

The Port of Dover said early on Saturday morning that it was dealing with “hundreds of displaced” airport passengers and urged customers to ensure they had a booking before arriving. Chief executive Doug Bannister told the PA news agency: “We operate a turn up and go system here. However, we do urge you to have a book with you on busy days, even if people do this en route.

“The more visibility we have, the better. But we are here to help people who want to travel. So I would say to displaced airport passengers, ‘Come on. We have the capacity.’”

Mr Bannister said the port was expecting more than 10,000 cars on Saturday, up from 8,000 the day before. He added: “We start getting busy around 5 or 5.30 in the morning. We’ve opened new infrastructure today which is working very well.

“So far there is no congestion in the city of Dover. The access roads are busy but moving. Everything is going well.” Mr Bannister also confirmed that the port was not affected by the IT outage, adding that travellers were able to arrive at their destinations on time and without disruption throughout Friday.

A flawed update from CrowdStrike, one of the world’s largest cybersecurity providers, knocked many businesses offline on Friday, canceling flights and trains and paralyzing some healthcare systems.

George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, said he was “deeply sorry” for the situation and said CrowdStrike was “actively working” with those affected. Industry expert Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned it could take “weeks” for all computers and systems to be fully restored, while Kurtz said it would take “some time”.

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