Our new £48,000 Mercedes was destroyed in the Luton airport car park fire: Devastated Brits coming back from holiday reveal how their vehicles went up in flames after inferno tore through £20m structure
- Liz and Gary Blackmore bought the destroyed Mercedes less than a year ago
- Was YOUR car affected by the fire? Email [email protected]
Devastated Brits have revealed how their new £48,000 car went up in flames after an inferno tore through a car park at Luton airport.
Liz and Gary Blackmore, of Loughborough, were coming back from a five-day holiday to Portugal last night and had parked their car on the top floor of Luton’s new £20million parking structure.
The couple were on a flight back to Luton when they heard about the blaze from the captain, who had to make a last minute diversion to Gatwick.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service spent some 12 hours battling the inferno at the airport’s Terminal Car Park 2 after the multi-storey was engulfed by flames and caved in just before 9pm last night.
Mrs Blackmore, 57, told MailOnline: ‘We’re devastated. The car was less than a year old and my daughter has taken the other car so now we’re left with no car. We’re horrified.
Liz and Gary Blackmore, of Loughborough, have revealed how their new £48,000 car went up in flames after an inferno tore through a car park at Luton airport
The Mercedes was less than a year old and was parked on the top floor of the carpark which went up in flames
As many as 1,200 vehicles were affected by the collapse of the car park at Luton airport last night
Gary Blackmore shared his horror on Facebook at finding out his car was parked on the floor that went up in flames
The charred remains of cars in the Luton Airport multi-storey following last night’s devastating fire
‘We parked our Mercedes on the top floor of the multi-story Car Park 2, short-stay, Luton, and we’d gone on holiday to Portugal.
‘We were returning yesterday evening and then suddenly the captain of the plane told us that we were diverting to Gatwick due to a large fire that has closed the airport.
‘I saw it all on MailOnline and BBC about the fire.’
The pair spent all night trying to get home after being stranded with no car so are yet to call their insurance to see if they will receive any compensation.
‘We don’t know yet – we’ve not contacted the insurance. We’re going to get some sleep first,’ said Mrs Blackmore, a part-time schoolteacher.
‘This morning we heard people have been taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and injuries – we just hope they’re okay. You can replace the car but you can’t replace people.
‘It was confusing because we’re on our own – there was no help from anybody. We landed at nearly midnight and we had no assistance.
Fire services attending the scene this morning following the fire which started last night
Others have reported waking up still on holiday after flights were cancelled, but fearing that their car has melted in the blaze
The extent of the damage can be seen in Luton’s Terminal Car Park 2 following last night’s fire
Cars were engulfed in flames after one reportedly exploded at the short stay
Police, firefighters and ambulance crews were on the scene, with five people rushed to hospital
People take pictures while leaving London Luton airport as emergency services respond to a fire
‘Also we didn’t know whether to go to Luton and pick up car – we didn’t know what to do – no one told us – we didn’t go because we’d seen the car park had collapsed so we didn’t bother going.’
Mr Blackmore shared his horror on Facebook at finding out his car was parked on the floor that went up in flames.
He wrote: ‘What a night. Flew back from Portugal to be told that we are being diverted from Luton due to a fire in a car park!
‘So we end up at Gatwick and then find out it’s in the car park where I parked my car.
READ MORE: Is this the car that started the London Luton car park fire? Moment vehicle goes up in flames before inferno caused £20m structure to collapse – sparking chaos with all flights cancelled until 3pm and five rushed to hospital
‘So less than a year old car up in flames and the whole structure has collapsed.’
He added: ‘Now we are struck at Bedford train station at 3.45 in the morning with no trains for three hours and a taxi wanting £150 for 53 miles!! I have to say that I’ve had better ends to holidays.’
Meanwhile others have reported waking up still on holiday after flights were cancelled, but fearing that their car has melted in the blaze.
One person posted a photo of a picturesque beach on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: ‘When you should have gone home last night but you wake up to this…on the other hand your car could be a melting mess in Luton!’
Eight Polish passengers have been stranded for nine hours after their early morning flight from Luton Airport was cancelled.
Access to the Airport from the Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit has been closed, leaving passengers stuck at Luton Airport Parkway station.
One passenger is exercising at the station while his flight has been delayed for a ‘couple of hours’.
Nikodem Lesiak, 18, said he and seven other Polish university students are ‘tired’ as they have been stranded since 12 am after their 7:50 am flight to Krakow, Poland, was cancelled. The students have been in the UK for holiday for five days.
He said: ‘We are tired, and we have spent the whole night here. We need to get to Poland as fast as possible.
‘When we got here, we found out Luton is burning and everything is closed, and we were supposed to have our flight at 7:50 today but it was cancelled. We found another ticket to Poland from another city and then we have to take a coach to the city we live in.’
Nikodem Lesiak, 18, said he and seven other Polish university students are ‘tired’ as they have been stranded since 12 am after their 7:50 am flight to Krakow, Poland, was cancelled
How Luton’s Terminal Car Park 2 looked prior to the fire which ripped through the building last night
A charred section of a parking structure is seen this morning after it caught fire and partially collapsed at London’s Luton Airport
Shocking footage has emerged of a vehicle going up in flames at London Luton Airport, before the huge inferno that caused a car park to collapse, cancelling all flights and leaving five people in hospital
A charred section of a parking structure is seen after it caught fire and partially collapsed at London’s Luton Airport
A fire engine at Luton Airport this morning after a huge fire which caused a car park to collapse
Their next flight will be leaving at 12:40 pm, however Mr Lesiak said they are taking a ‘risk’ as their flight might again be cancelled.
This morning confused and upset stranded passengers, some with small children, dragged luggage up and down the road to the airport, unsure of what to do.
Flights into the airport were diverted to other airports including Stansted, Bristol and Liverpool.
Mother and daughter Rebecca Fancourt and Jane Knight, from Lincolnshire, were supposed to be travelling to Turkey on a flight at 12.30 this afternoon.
Despite checking online and calling Tui they are unsure as to what is happening and whether their holiday will still go ahead.
They said: ‘We have been told flights are still going ahead and have had to have been driven here from Lincolnshire because there is no certainty around parking.
‘We have spent all night trying to figure out what to do and it has been impossible to get details. We are very frustrated by the situation.’
A returning holidaymaker, who did not want to be named, said: ‘We landed last night. Came through the terminal all fine and thought ‘brilliant – two hours drive and we’ll be home’.
There was also huge demand for parking this morning, with the airport’s website introducing a queuing system, with desperate passengers having to wait several minutes to even browse the site
Firefighters continue to work on making the car park safe this morning following last night’s fire
A witness described the speed in which the blaze tore through the car park’s upper floor as ‘incredible’
A number of cars have been visibly damaged by the fire, as crews continue to battle it
Passengers lift their luggage past fire trucks at London’s Luton Airport following the car park collapse
Then we saw all the flames and smoke and were ushered away. My car is stuck in Car Park 1. We had to stay at the Holiday Inn and now we are waiting for my son to come and pick us up. No idea if our car is okay or when we can get it.’
A returning holidaymaker, who did not want to be named, said: ‘We landed last night. Came through the terminal all fine and thought ‘brilliant – two hours drive and we’ll be home.
‘Then we saw all the flames and smoke and were ushered away. My car is stuck in Car Park 1. We had to stay at the Holiday Inn and now we are waiting for my son to come and pick us up. No idea if our car is okay or when we can get it.’
Another Albanian woman with a toddler said: ‘We were diverted to Liverpool last night. We were given a taxi ride to Luton where our car is parked. My husband is trying to get our car out. We don’t know which car park it is in. After that we have to get back to our home in Birmingham.’
READ MORE: Luton Airport fire LIVE: ‘Cause of blaze revealed’ as all flights are suspended as firefighters tackle huge car park inferno and multi-storey structure COLLAPSES – with five taken to hospital
A taxi driver from Luton Black Cabs said: ‘There are no customers. No work. Nowhere to park. It’s a nightmare’
Beds Fire and Rescue said half of the car park was involved in the fire. The first call to the fire was made at 13 minutes to nine.
15 fire engines were called to the scene. The fire raged until the early hours of the morning.
Local residents were advised to keep their windows and doors closed. There was traffic chaos. The M1 around Luton was gridlocked as were local roads.
As the fire raged, vehicle alarms and loud explosions could be heard as the fire tore through the upper floor of the car park.
It comes after Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service spent some 12 hours battling the inferno at the airport’s £20m Terminal Car Park 2 after the multi-storey was engulfed by flames and caved in just before 9pm last night.
Fire chiefs said this morning that the fire, which was finally controlled and extinguished jut before 9am, started in a single vehicle with diesel engine. As many as 1,200 cars are feared to have been damaged in the blaze.
Dramatic footage, caught on a CCTV camera, captures the moment an explosion erupts in the car park, bringing light fixtures down from the ceiling, before a fireball soars through the building.
The car park, which can hold 1,900 vehicles, did not have sprinklers, which chief fire officer Andrew Hopkinson said ‘may have made a positive impact on this incident’ and has urged the airport to install them in existing and future car parks.
He added that the building’s open sides meant the fire will have spread ‘horizontally’ before it went up through the structure.
Around 25,000 airline passengers are suffering disruption as a result of the shocking blaze, which has cancelled 140 flights and has left crowds of holidaymakers stranded in Luton this morning, with no way of getting home.
At least 140 flights due to take off or land at the Bedfordshire airport have been cancelled since the fire started shortly before 9pm on Tuesday, analysis found.
A further 17 arrivals were diverted to airports as far away as Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.
Passengers booked on flights due to depart before then are advised not to go to the airport.
The fire was declared a major incident, with firefighters working through the night and into the early hours of Wednesday to extinguish the blaze.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said at 9am its crews were ‘monitoring the smouldering remains’.
It received a call about a car fire on level three of Terminal Car Park 2 at 8.47pm.
Fifteen fire appliances and more than 100 firefighters were deployed.
Four firefighters and a member of airport staff were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and another firefighter was treated at the scene.
Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: ‘On arrival my officers were faced with a severe and rapidly spreading fire involving a large number of vehicles that ultimately spread to multiple floors and involved a partial collapse of the car park.’
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