Huge global glitch causes planes to be grounded and locks people out of bank accounts

The wheels of certain parts of the world have ground to a halt after a technical issue has resulted in planes being grounded, trains being cancelled and plenty of other places thrown into disarray.

You might have noticed that some computers aren't working, and a Microsoft spokesperson said: "Earlier today (19 July), a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems globally. We are actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery."

One of the symptoms of this disruption has resulted in planes not being able to take off at airports.

Ryanair said there could be 'potential disruptions across the network' today (19 July) for their passengers, and they're not the only airline to say so.

"Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling across the network on Fri 19 July should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight," they said in a statement on their website.

“We advise passengers to arrive at the airport 3 hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by this 3rd party IT issue, which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network."

CrowdStrike is a software company and an update to their antivirus software took down computers around the world. (Mailee Osten-Tan/Getty Images)

Microsoft 365 posted an update on social media to say they were trying to sort out some technical issues, and said users would experience 'gradual relief' as they worked on the problem.

They said: "Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions.

"We still expect that users will continue to see gradual relief as we continue to mitigate the issue."

The tech company has been looking into an issue with their 365 apps and operating systems.

This outage is also affecting some train travel, as Govia Thameslink Railway, which is the parent company of Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern, released a statement warning that they were having 'widespread IT issues' which could lead to some trains being cancelled.

Many Microsoft systems were affected, but the issue stems from CrowdStrike and has caused mass disruption including grounded planes. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

They said: "We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network.

“Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem.

“We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.

“Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected.

“We will provide additional updates when we can. In the meantime, please regularly check your journey before you travel.”

TransPennine Express said similar.

Meanwhile, Sky News and their online broadcast got knocked off the air and replaced with a message apologising for the disruption.