A fire that led to the closure of Heathrow last week is no longer being treated as a “potentially criminal matter”, Scotland Yard has said.
The Metropolitan police’s counter terrorism command had been leading the investigation to establish the cause of the blaze at the nearby electrical substation in Hayes, west London, that started on Thursday evening and was still burning on Friday.
About 250,000 passengers were disrupted after Europe’s busiest airport was closed to all flights on Friday until about 6pm. On Tuesday, the Met said in a statement: “Following enquiries to date, officers have 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, although we continue to support other partners, including colleagues from National Grid, London fire brigade and SSEN, with whom we remain in close contact.
“Should any relevant new information or evidence come to light it will be looked at and considered as appropriate.”
The fire resulted in no planes being allowed to take off or land, causing diversions which affected about 1,300 flights. Some flights resumed on Friday evening but airlines faced difficulties and passengers were disrupted due to airline crew being in different parts of the world.
The decision to close the airport was questioned by the head of the National Grid who said that there was enough power for the airport to remain open during the entire period it was shut down.
John Pettigrew said two other substations that served Heathrow were working and could have supplied the airport with all the power it needed to remain open. “There was no lack of capacity from the substations,” he said. “Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow.”
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has ordered the National Energy System Operator to investigate what happened and provide its initial findings within six weeks. An internal review of the airport’s crisis management plans and its response will be undertaken by former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is an independent member of Heathrow’s board.
Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye will be grilled by MPs on 2 April at a one-off session investigating the closure of the airport. A spokesperson for the airport told the Guardian on Monday: “This was an unprecedented issue which began with a fire at an off-airport substation, in less than 24 hours the entire airport was rebooted from a standing start and we delivered a full schedule from Saturday onwards.
“There are two reviews into the systems and response both at Heathrow and with the wider grid infrastructure. We will support these and lessons will be learned where needed.”
