Heathrow Airport roads reopen after mains burst on ring road

All roads to Heathrow Airport have reopened after earlier disruption caused by flooding from a burst water main on a ring road.

The flooding along Inner Ring Road West prevented access to the central terminal area (CTA), which includes Terminals 2 and 3, a number of other buildings and the road network.

Heathrow Airport has confirmed the airport is now operating as normal and has apologised for the inconvenience after the road closures were made just before 06:00 BST.

Passengers are still being advised to use public transport where possible due to heavy congestion on the roads.

The travel disruption left some passengers struggling to get to their planes on time.

George Smyrniadis, 79, missed his flight to Frankfurt where he was headed for a school reunion on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to BBC’s Your Voice, he said: “I was upset. It’s the first reunion I’ve missed since 1987.

“I was so downhearted i just wanted to get home.

“The whole airport seemed completely chaotic, but I got the impression the airlines just carried on as though nothing was wrong – and if you missed your flight you just missed it.”

Smyrniadis said his trip from Portsmouth went well until he left the M4, at which point he was sat in traffic for 90 minutes travelling a distance which usually takes him about 10 minutes.

“By the time I got to security it was too late – it was already 09:30BST so they wouldn’t let me go through any further.”