Luton Airport flights suspended after large car park fire

All flights at Luton Airport have been suspended until the afternoon after a huge fire ripped through a terminal car park.

Flights have been halted until 15:00 BST after the fire at the multi-storey caused the building to suffer a "significant structural collapse".

Up to 1,200 vehicles may have been in the car park and subsequently damaged, the fire service said.

Four firefighters and an airport staff member were taken to hospital.

They had been suffering the effects of breathing in smoke. Another patient was discharged at the scene.

The airport said their priority is supporting emergency services and the safety passengers and staff, which is why flights have been suspended.

Footage shared online shows huge flames and billowing smoke from the top floor of the building after the fire broke out shortly before 21:00 BST on Tuesday.

Bedfordshire Police have asked people not to travel to the area.

Hundreds of people are now stranded in Luton, with no way of getting home with many saying their cars were in the car park.

There is a heavy police presence with many officers trying their best to direct people away from the scene. For some stranded passengers, English is not their first language.

Many were scrambling with their luggage to Luton Airport's train station in a bid to catch a train or coach to other airports in order to catch flights in the next few hours.

All the hotels are fully booked and many passengers said the airlines have simply dumped them.

London Luton Airport is the UK's fifth largest airport after Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, carrying more than 13 million passengers in 2022.

The ambulance service said a critical incident had been stood down but it would "remain on scene to support fire and rescue colleagues".

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said 15 fire engines had been sent to the scene.

Earlier, the ambulance service said a member of the public and six firefighters had suffered smoke inhalation.

Vehicle alarms and loud explosions were heard, with one witness describing the speed at which the blaze had torn through the upper floor of the car park as "incredible".

A passenger who was on board a plane that was due to take off as the fire broke out said: "We were all just told to get off the flight, that there was an incident and then we were left in the airport with no proper explanation."

Two hours later, they were told there was a major incident and that they would need to leave the airport.

"It was all a little bit confusing because I don't think the staff knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing."

Another passenger said "some of us were very frightened because we'd travelled by ourselves" and "didn't have anywhere to go" after being told to leave the airport.

Russell Taylor, 41, an account director from Kinross, saw the flames after flying in to London Luton from Edinburgh.

He told the PA news agency: "There were a couple of fire engines with a car ablaze on the upper floor of the car park at just after 9pm.

"A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames."

Helen Jocelyne, from Exmouth in Devon, was returning to Luton Airport from Burgas when she was instead diverted to Stanstead, an hour before the plane was due to land.

She said a coach returned her to Luton but had to walk to the car park with her luggage.

"I don't even know if we can get our car out yet," she said on Wednesday.

The fire service said the first call about a fire involving a car on level three of the multi-storey had come at 20:47 BST.

It added: "Firefighting operations were undertaken to control the blaze and protect nearby buildings, vehicles, aircraft, and the Luton DART [shuttle service]."

Fire crews will "continue to undertake firefighting operations to help restore travel services to the public as soon as is possible", it said.

The airport said in a statement: "All flights are currently suspended as emergency services respond to a car fire that has spread in Terminal Car Park 2.

"Access to the airport is currently restricted and we ask that people do not travel to the airport at this time. Further updates to follow."

It said additional staff were on hand to provide assistance to passengers, and said they should contact their airline for flight information.

The airport's website says the car park that went on fire is located "just a five-minute walk to the terminal entrance".

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