First attempt received no reply from Google. After a week I emailed them again. This time I received a reply saying that it was a fault at their end.
My ads have started showing again this afternoon.
A client tried to signup for GoogleAds last Thursday but the URL in the verification email didn't work.
AdWords will be offline for 45 hour(s) 0 minute(s) beginning immediately.
Oh my.
Well, I'll certainly ping the tech team to make sure they're aware that this kinda scary message went out.
As it is now two hours later and it's working fine one can only assume it was a typo.
Yep, clearly a typo - and sorry for the confusion. Glad to see, though, that panic did not reign! ;)
AWA