Roads to Heathrow Airport reopen after burst main caused flooding

Earlier disruption was caused by a main leak beneath a ring road, it is understood.

Roads leading to Heathrow Airport have reopened after a burst main led to flooding and disrupted travel to two terminals.

Passengers were asked not to travel by road to Terminals Two and Three after access was blocked by the flood, which is understood to have been caused by a main leak.

All roads had reopened by Saturday afternoon, with the airport operating as normal, a spokesman for Heathrow said.

The burst main occurred beneath a road in the central terminal area (CTA) of the airport.

The CTA refers to an area including Terminals Two and Three, as well as a number of other buildings, connected by a network of roads.

It is understood that neither terminal was flooded and flights were not disrupted.

Passengers were asked to leave extra time to complete their journeys, and to use public transport or park and ride services to access Terminals Two and Three.

The disruption hit passengers amid the school summer holidays, which sees hundreds of thousands of customers pass through the airport at peak times.

Julie Hamilton, 54, had been staying in the Isle of Sheppey off the north coast of Kent, and was due to fly from Heathrow to her home in New Jersey on Saturday.

Asked how the flooding has impacted her, she said: “Well I wasn’t notified so I just had to go via terminal five and get a train over here because I obviously can’t get dropped to Terminal Two.”

Ms Hamilton said the airline she is flying with had not informed her about the disruption, adding that she only realised there were issues when her father read about it on the news.

The passenger, who runs a non-profit bookstore in New Jersey, in the United States, told the Press Association: “It’s really frustrating.

“Luckily I got my brother to drop me to Terminal Five and I just had to navigate how to get from Terminal Five to Terminal Two.”

She added: “I have to be here three hours early and now I’m half an hour late.”

Trish Macfarlane, 59, and Cindy Hastie, 65, both arrived at Terminal Two without any issues.

Ms Macfarlane, who was due to fly to Singapore, said: “We got a cab from Kensington and it was fine. He just drove us straight here.

“We booked a taxi yesterday and we came in that. There’s been no flooding we have seen.”

The accountant said she saw news about the flooding on Facebook on the way to the airport.

The pair left Kensington at around 1.20pm on Saturday.

Ms Hastie, who was flying to Toronto, Canada, said the driver had told them that he had been travelling to the airport all morning and had no problems.

Rahel Staeheli, 42, had been staying with her family in central London and was booked on a flight booked from Heathrow to Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday.

The mother said they had initially planned to get an Uber to the airport but learnt that no cars could get near Terminals Two or Three so had to change their plans.

She said they “navigated” the tube stations instead, adding: “Now we’re late and hopefully we’re going to catch our flight.”

A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said: “Following earlier flooding in the central terminal area impacting access to Terminals 2 and 3, all roads have now reopened and the airport continues to operate as normal.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and we thank passengers for following the advisories we had put in place while our teams worked to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”