A Liverpool man was left unable to visit tourist attractions whilst on holiday due to the NHS App crashing.
Callum Melia said he was unable to access a number of attractions during his visit to Naples, Italy, on Wednesday as the app containing vaccine information was down due to issues with a global service provider.
The downtime resulted in many being unable to board flights as their Covid pass failed to load.
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Mr Melia spoke about the issues he had due to the downtime, which lasted around three and a half hours.
He said: “We were about to enter these tours around the city when we discover we can’t get on the app to access the QR code,
“We also had further problems accessing bars and restaurants.”
People travelling abroad must show a QR code within the app to prove their vaccine status or print out a letter in advance.
Due to the outage, many people missed their flights as they were unable to verify their Covid status.
The issue was resolved by around 3:15, with NHS Digital saying the glitch was caused by a “technical issue with a global service provider”.
But it was too late for some holidaymakers, including Chuck Adolphy and his girlfriend, who were not allowed onto an EasyJet flight from London Gatwick to Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana.
Mr Adolphy described the incident as a “shambles”.
He said “I Went to go on the app and my Covid Pass wasn’t appearing,
“I Didn’t even realise at the time there was an outage was just turned away and told they couldn’t do anything about it.
“I Rang the number and they said the app and site are down and there is nothing they can do. EasyJet said nothing either. Showed them my vaccine card and nothing.”
The NHS App has gained more than 10 million new users in recent months as it became the platform for accessing the pass, which shows proof of a person’s vaccination status and is required for international travel.
A spokesperson for NHS Digital said: “The NHS Covid Pass service was temporarily unavailable between 11:45 and 15:15 today as a result of a technical issue with a global service provider that affected many different organisations.
“Following an urgent investigation, this has been fixed and Covid Passes are available both via the NHS App and online.”
