Sadiq Khan responds to Heathrow Airport power loss

Evening Standard

Transcript

00:00I got a call during the course of the night, first from my office and then from the commissioner.

00:06This was an incident declared a major incident very early in the course of the night. This was

00:11a fire that began around 11.30. Ten fire engines were called out because a substation caught fire.

00:18It was quite soon apparent because of proximity to Heathrow airport this needed to be declared

00:22a major incident. During the course of the night there's been some fantastic multi-agency

00:26response coordinated by the fire brigade. Around 6.30 this morning most of the fire was brought

00:32under control which is really important. This is the fire service working for seven hours

00:36continuously. They saw some of the fire station substation that's still on fire. Because of the

00:43scale of the fire unfortunately the fire brigade had to apply a cordon which meant more than 150

00:50residents evacuate from their homes. The commissioner's hoping they can be allowed to

00:55return to their homes during the course of today as the fire has become smaller. Unfortunately in

00:59the course of the night more than 70,000 homes and businesses lost their power. The national

01:05grid have worked really hard to divert power in. That's reduced now the numbers of families

01:10homes without power is now 4,000. We're hoping over the course of the day more of those homes

01:16have their power restored. Unfortunately there are many families businesses inconvenienced as

01:21well of course those who are planning to use Heathrow today. From your conversations with police so far

01:26how confident are you of a cause being identified at some stage? Well the fire brigade have got a lot

01:32of experience in relation to causation or relation to investigations. There's a chief investigator

01:37who's been on site since the start of the fire. They're really close with the Met Police Service as you

01:42would expect. The Met Police Service then call in the various experts they have at their disposal

01:47in relation to fire of this nature. Clearly because of the proximity to Heathrow airport

01:51because of the infrastructure we're talking about it's not a surprise the counter-terror teams

01:55involved in the investigation as soon as the police service are comfortable

02:00sharing their conclusions they'll make sure those conclusions are made available. There has been some

02:04level of disbelief that the UK's most important transport site is apparently reliant on a single

02:09substation. Is this a risk that had been foreseen anywhere or has it come as a surprise to everyone?

02:14It's really important we don't speculate in relation to the various power entry points to

02:19Heathrow airport, the other substations that serve Heathrow airport. Heathrow airport took the decision

02:23and it's their decision to take to close down the airport because of concerns that they had and I

02:29support their operational independence to do so. Clearly there'll be questions and lessons to be

02:34learned in relation to this as they are with any major incident and I know from past experience

02:39not just Heathrow airport, not just National Grid, the fire brigade, the police, the government

02:44city hall, the council and others, we're working together to make sure lessons are learned. And do

02:47Heathrow need to consider their own internal resilience arrangements in your view? Well look

02:52the key thing is to make sure that you know powers return as soon as possible to Heathrow airport

02:57so Heathrow can return as soon as possible business to usual. I know Heathrow you know as an

03:03airport is run very well, they're assiduous in making sure lessons are learned in relation to

03:08challenges they have and I'm positive that Heathrow will make sure they work closely with National

03:11Grid and other partners to make sure lessons are learned. There have been reports of hotels in the

03:16area jacking up their prices essentially profiting off of travellers misery. What's your message to

03:21accommodation providers in London? Well we know that the government's working really closely with

03:25us and others to make sure for example those who are stranded can return with empty seats on

03:29aeroplanes and so forth. We know one of the local hotels I've heard of for example opened their

03:34doors to the 150 families who were evacuated. I'm not aware about those hotels who are you know

03:39surge pricing and so forth. What I'd hope is there is a really good London spirit we all

03:44recognise. There are thousands and thousands of people in the inconvenience. Some people were

03:48going to go on a you know a holiday that probably saved up a year for, some may be going for a

03:52honeymoon. I hope that hotels and others would have a good community spirit and understand that

03:56these are people who are really frustrated and really disappointed and some devastated. They'd

04:00be putting a helping hand you know rather than making profit out of it. And just finally have

04:05today's events in any way informed or evolved your thinking on Heathrow's desire for a third

04:09runway? No they're two really separate issues and we mustn't conflate the two. What today is about

04:14is making sure the fire's under control. Really important the families and homes who've lost their

04:19powers have their return as soon as possible. The families who've been evacuated return to the homes

04:23as soon as possible. But also really importantly for the fire brigade and the police service to

04:26carry out their investigations to find out the causes and to make sure we can return power

04:31through national grid to the airport and others as soon as possible. There'll be a

04:35further conversation about lessons that can and should be learned which is also equally important.

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