Thousands of people are facing travel chaos after Luton Airport was forced to delay flights because of a fire that destroyed a multi-story car park last night.
All flights have been grounded until at least 3pm after Terminal Car Park 2 suffered a “significant structural collapse” as a result of the blaze.
Pictures shared online on Tuesday evening showed flames engulfing the car park, with a number of cars damaged.
The fire service said that the blaze, thought to have started inside a car, appeared to be accidental. At 9am it had been fully extinguished, although fire crews remained at the scene on to monitor the smoldering debris.
If the fire is out, why are flights still not running?
By law, an airport has to close its runways to passenger flights if it has no fire cover, which could happen when the airport fire service is on strike or short-staffed.
Last night, it appears that the airport’s fire service left the runway to tackle the blaze, meaning the airport itself had no proper cover.
It may be that having worked through the night to tackle the car park blaze, airport fire staff are not yet back on duty today and therefore unable to provide runway cover, hence why flights are still delayed.
Luton Airport has been contacted for comment.
Simon Calder, The Independent’s travel expert, says tens of thousands of passengers are likely to face disruption. Ten flights were cancelled with passengers onboard last night and 23 were diverted all over the UK, he said.
"Much worse in terms of sheer scale are the 240 cancellations that we will see even if Luton is able to start operations on schedule at 3pm today.
"I have calculated that there are between 40,000 and 50,000 people who will have their travel plans wrecked today," he said.
A Polish family who came on holiday to London told how they were forced to sleep on the floor overnight due to the disruption.
Gregorz Szmit, 46, said their flight to Gdansk should have departed at 9.50pm on Tuesday and is now scheduled to leave at 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Mr Szmit, speaking from the terminal building where he is waiting with his wife and their two sons aged seven and 15, said: “We were on holiday for five days to visit London – British Museum, Trafalgar Square.
“This is difficult, I must say. This is our first journey to England, to London. It’s been an adventure.”
Over 100 firefighters battled through the night to extinguish the car park inferno, which has left thousands of passengers affected by diversion and cancellations. Four firefighters and a staff member were treated for smoke inhalation.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) said it believes the fire started in a diesel car before spreading to other vehicles.
Up to 1,500 vehicles may have been in the car park at the time of the fire.
Around 25,000 passengers are suffering flight disruption as Luton Airport remains closed because a vehicle fire caused a car park to collapse (Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service/PA)— (PA Media)
The scene at Luton Airport (Sam Russell/PA)— (PA Wire)
The newly-built car park building at the airport’s Terminal 2 partially collapsed after a fire broke out at around 9pm, the fire service said.
Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for (BFRS), said the fire service first received the first report about the blaze at 8.47pm and its first two appliances arrived at the scene just under 10 minutes later.
The fire was on the third floor of the terminal car park two and a major incident was declared at 9:38pm.
AA technical expert Greg Carter said the most common cause of car fires is an electrical fault with the 12-volt battery system.
He added that diesel is “much less flammable” than petrol, and in a car it takes “intense pressure or sustained flame” to ignite diesel.
Luton Airport said flights would remain suspended until 3pm on Wednesday following a fire in a multi-storey car park.
In a statement, the airport said emergency services remain on the scene at Terminal Car Park 2.
The statement said: “Our priority remains supporting the emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff. Therefore, we have now taken the decision to suspend all flights until 3pm on Wednesday 11th October.
“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted.”
