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Passengers travelling to Heathrow Airport Monday morning faced severe delays on the roads following the closure of the M4 southbound spur in the early hours caused by a car catching fire.
The M4 southbound spur at Heathrow Airport has been reopened, but National Highways reports there were “severe delays” in the area as of Monday morning, 10 March, as well as on approach to the terminals.
National Highways warned passengers planning to catch a flight and journeying to the airport via car to allow extra time to get there.
“Plan ahead, you may wish to re-route or even delay your journey,” the road operator said.
The vehicle caught fire in the tunnel at the airport, causing the M4 southbound spur to be closed between the M4 Junction 4 and Junction 4A, National Highways reported at 3.49am on Monday.
It added that emergency services were in attendance at the scene.
The spur was closed for just under four hours before it was reopened sometime after 7am this morning, but the closure has caused a knock-on effect as there were severe traffic delays on the approach to the airport.
Earlier in the morning, Heathrow advised passengers that road access to Terminals 2 and 3 was partially restricted due to the vehicle fire, but said at 8.53am that this had been resolved.
“All roads have now reopened but there continues to be some congestion around the airport,” the airport said. “We apologise for the disruption caused this morning.”
Simon Calder, travel correspondent of The Independent, said: “Half of all the passengers at Heathrow use the central area, where Terminal 2 and 3 are located.
“The only public road access is via the tunnel beneath the northern runway, which is clearly vulnerable to an incident like this.
“While passengers can travel on public transport, it is trickier for airline staff – many of whom are bussed in by road.
“Anyone whose flight is delayed or cancelled is protected by air passengers’ rights rules, though they will not be able to claim cash compensation on top of the airlines’ duty of care.”
The London Fire Brigade said on X Monday morning: “We were called just before 3am today to reports of a car fire in a tunnel near Heathrow Airport.
“Firefighters attended and extinguished the fire, which involved a diesel-powered vehicle.”
It added that no one was hurt in the incident.
The fire broke out inside the east ramp, with firefighters arriving to find the vehicle completely destroyed, the Metro reported.
Firefighters got the flames under control by 3.45am and left the scene at around 4:30am.
Separately, Network Rail reported disruptions just after 5am following a fire next to the track between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 4.
However, the incident was cleared around half an hour later at 5.31am.
The routes affected included the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
