Heathrow Airport tunnel: Vehicle fire causes chaos and long queues - drivers told to use public transport
Drivers heading to Heathrow have been told to try to use public transport instead after an incident in the central tunnel.
The main tunnel at Heathrow is a 630m twin-bore road tunnel with two lanes each way, and is the main way to get to Terminals 1, 2 and 3 by car.
Heathrow have put out a statement £ An earlier vehicle fire affecting road access to Terminals 2 and 3 has now been resolved. All roads have now reopened but there continues to be some congestion around the airport. We apologise for the disruption caused this morning.
Previously the airport just referred to it as an “earlier issue”.
At 5am drivers reported being backed up all along the A4 and surrounding roads to Terminal 2 and 3.
The AA traffic news service said that the cause of the problem was a vehicle fire on Tunnel Road, which means one of the tunnels is closed. It said early this morning: “Now running two-way traffic (one lane each way) through one side, while the other stays closed for clean up and recovery.”
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: “We were called just before 3am today to reports of car fire in a tunnel near Heathrow Airport. Firefighters attended and discovered a car fully alight. The fire was safely extinguished by firefighters and no one was reported to be injured. The vehicle involved was diesel-powered. The airport has since confirmed the tunnel has reopened.”