McDonald's system down: Customers unable to order food at some UK restaurants amid IT outage

The fast food operator said the problem has now been “resolved” at its sites in the UK and Ireland.

On Friday morning, customers in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Japan complained about issues trying to buy from the fast food giant on social media. In the UK, a number of customers said on social media their local restaurants were closed although they were able to make orders through the company’s app.

Most stores across the UK opened as usual on Friday morning despite the problem. The company blamed the issue on a “technology outage” and stressed it was not linked to any cybersecurity issues.

A McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants. The issue has now been resolved in the UK and Ireland. We thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

“The issue is not related to a cyber-security event.”

Luke Brett, 34, from Surrey, said he was travelling to Poole, Dorset and stopped at the McDonalds located in the Wessex Gate Retail Park to get a breakfast wrap and a drink, but was unable to place his order.

He said: “There was a notice on the door saying the systems are down and all the screens were blank and I was trying to order a breakfast wrap. [The restaurant] was open, but I was turned away by the staff inside who said the IT systems were down.”

It is understood that McDonald’s sites in some other countries were still being disrupted by the outage on Friday afternoon.