Chaos and anger as fire shuts Heathrow airport

PM: questions over how power failure could cause such disruption

- Gwyn Topham Rowena Mason Vikram Dodd

Downing Street has said there are "questions to answer" after a fire at an electrical substation closed Heathrow airport, stopping about 1,300 planes and disrupting the journeys of hundreds of thousands of global passengers.

Counter-terror police are leading the investigation into the "unprecedented" incident that left Britain's biggest airport unable to function, but said there was "no indication of foul play".

Two people familiar with the investigation said officials do not believe the fire was the result of any criminal activity or a hostile state and was more likely to be accidental.

Heathrow announced it would partially reopen last night, but airlines warned that the closure could continue to have a "huge impact" on passengers in the coming days. The airport said it hoped to run a full operation today.

Ministers acknowledged the "immense distress and disruption" caused to passengers, vowing "we will learn the lessons".

Asked about an inquiry and whether National Grid had questions to answer, the prime minister's official spokesperson added: "There are questions to answer on how this has happened and what can be done to prevent the scale of disruption we've seen from happening again, once the situation is under control." Passengers were warned to stay away from Heathrow all day yesterday after London fire brigade (LFB) was called to tackle the blaze that started shortly after 11pm the night before at a substation in Hayes, west London, north of the airport.