Ed Miliband says catastrophic fire impacting Heathrow Airport is unprecedented

Energy secretary Ed Miliband has described the catastrophic fire that led to the closure of Heathrow Airport as “unprecedented.”

The airport is closed until at least midnight today (21 March) due to a “significant” power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation in Hayes, west London.

“The grid has never seen an event quite like this,” Miliband told BBC Breakfast.

“We will want to understand both the causes of this event and what lessons, if any, it can teach us,” he added, stressing that the priority right now is to put the fire out and restore power to stop the “terrible disruption” to passengers.

At least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow are directly affected, with potential for further cancellations and delays.