Fire that led to closure of Heathrow no longer considered ‘potentially criminal’

A fire at an electrical substation which led to the closure of Heathrow Airport last week is no longer being treated as a “potentially criminal matter”, the Metropolitan Police said.

The force’s Counter Terrorism Command had been leading the investigation to establish the cause of the blaze at the substation in Hayes, west London, that started on Thursday evening and was still burning on Friday.

Around 200,000 passengers were disrupted after Heathrow was closed to all flights on Friday until around 6pm following the fire.

In an update on Tuesday, police said officers had found “no evidence to suggest that the incident was suspicious in nature”.

“As such, we are no longer treating this as a potentially criminal matter,” they added.

The cause of the fire will continue to be investigated by National Grid, London Fire Brigade and Southern Electricity Network.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “deeply concerned” about the incident in an interview with the BBC last week, adding that “there are questions that need to be answered”.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband previously ordered the National Energy System Operator to investigate what happened and provide its initial findings within six weeks.

Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye will be grilled by MPs on April 2 at a one-off session investigating the closure of the airport.

The west London airport is the largest in Europe, with more than 83.9 million passengers travelling through its terminals in 2024.

Heathrow said it was “open and fully operational” over the weekend.