Trains are hit in Crowdstrike outage as ticket machines and scanners go down at London stations on one of year's busiest travel days

Travel disruption is continuing today as trains are hit in Crowdstrike outage with ticket machines and scanners going down at London stations.

The meltdown chaos comes after the world's biggest IT disaster struck, with thousands of Brits stranded abroad.

It happened on one of year's busiest travel days, with families now desperately queuing at Dover Port in an attempt to get home.

After another 45 flights were cancelled today, 28,000 Brits are fighting to get a seat on a plane.

Some passengers stuck overseas have been told they won't be able to get home until Wednesday at the latest after 50,000 flights going to, from or flying within the UK were hit by the disruption.

The catastrophic IT failure impacted 300million computers worldwide and it could take weeks for all of them to be fixed.

Experts also warned the error by security firm CrowdStrike which hit Microsoft systems will cost the global economy trillions.

It said: 'Some retail systems and ticket machines at stations are down, but our train services are running well.'

The Port of Dover said early this morning that it was dealing with 'hundreds of displaced' airport passengers and urged customers to ensure they had a booking before arrival.

The port chief later said: 'We are here to service people who want to travel. So I would say to displaced airport passengers 'come on down. We have the capacity'.'

Ferry operator DFDS said on X that there were wait times of up to 120 minutes at Dover border controls and 30 minutes at check-in.

The Port of Dover X account posted this morning to warn: 'We are seeing hundreds of displaced airport passengers arriving at the Port, please ensure you have a booking before arrival.'

It also posted on X that approach roads were 'slow moving', with a 60-minute wait time in the buffer zone.

But now the chief executive Doug Bannister has said: 'We operate a turn up and go system here. However, we do insist you have a [booking] on busy days, even if people are doing this on the drive down.

'The greater visibility we have the better. But we are here to service people who want to travel. So I would say to displaced airport passengers 'come on down. We have the capacity'.'

He said the port is expecting 10,000 cars today -  2,000 up from yesterday.

A Kent County Council said ferries and Le Shuttle will not take passengers without a booking today because of the outage.

'If your start to the summer holidays has been impacted by the IT outage, you may be thinking of swapping a plane for a channel crossing.

'But both the ferries out of #Dover and Le Shuttle are not taking turn up passengers today.

'Please make a booking before heading to the port.'

The meltdown affected planes, trains, hospitals, GPs, banks, and shops globally, falling on what was projected to be the busiest day for the aviation industry in five years.

IT experts were battling overnight to finish bringing healthcare, financial and travel companies' systems back online after they were crippled by the faulty update early on Friday.

Others could be feeling the pinch for a few days - as an organisation representing payroll workers warned that issues caused by the meltdown could delay people being paid.

CrowdStrike admitted responsibility for the issue which was caused by a buggy update to its Falcon security software.

The error rendered countless computers relied upon by airports, payment systems, restaurants, the NHS and even a Formula 1 team useless until the issue was identified.

Adding to the chaos, The National Lottery said it is investigating this morning after users reported being unable to access its app and website.

It is unclear if the issues facing the lottery are connected to Friday's outage.

Passengers hoping to catch flights across the world were hunkering down in terminals last night, while a firm representing payroll processors warned millions risk missing their payday because of the CrowdStrike issue.

The travel disruption is extending across the weekend, with thousands of Brits still stranded abroad.

There have been 1,639 flights cancelled so far today, after yesterday saw a total of 6,855 flights cancelled worldwide.

There will be around 28,000 Brits stuck overseas but the worst place is Naples, with almost 1,000 Brits stuck in the city.

Simon Caulder, the travel correspondent for The Independent, warned this is just the start of the 'great getaway'.

Speaking on Sky News, he also slammed airlines for not following the rules: 'The airline has a legal duty to get you to your destination. They won't be paying any extra compensation but any airline will have to get you there without it costing you a penny extra.

'It's a real shame airlines aren't stepping up and meeting the rules which have been in place for 17 years now and are falling short.'

This afternoon, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said that IT systems in train stations and airports were back up and running.

She posted on X: 'Pleased to report that UK airports and train operators have their IT systems back up and working as normal.

'We are in constant communication with industry. There continues to be no known safety or security issues arising from the outage. Some delays and a small number of cancelled flights are expected today.

'Train operators are no longer reporting cancellations and delays as a result of the IT failure. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to get systems up and running again.'

Hundreds of people have joined long check-in queues at Gatwick Airport today.

Charles, 50, from the Midlands, said he was glad he was in a queue to leave the country rather than arriving to the UK.

'I'm glad it's because we're going out. It'd be different if we were going back.'

He said his British Airways flight to Jamaica was in three hours, but he arrived early to get through the queues.

'Because of the situation yesterday on the news we just took a bit more time just to get here. I'm glad we did, to be honest with you.'

He said he believed the long queues on Saturday morning had been caused by everyone on long haul flights arriving at the airport early. He added: 'So they've all just given themselves an extra hour or two.'

Some 167 flights scheduled to depart UK airports were axed on Friday, with others delayed, while 171 flights due to land in the UK were cancelled, following the technical glitch.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said 5,078 flights - or 4.6 per cent of those scheduled - were cancelled globally on Friday, including the 167 UK departures.

Industry expert Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned that it could even take 'weeks' for all computers and systems to be fully restored.

One Brit was stuck at Heathrow Airport for 10 hours trying to fly to Naples for her best friend's wedding which is this afternoon.

Emma Rowley told MailOnline: 'I was at Heathrow for 10 hours yesterday waiting to fly, before our (supposedly morning) flight to Naples finally got cancelled as the crew ran out of legal time to work.

‍

‍