Is this the car that started the Luton airport car park fire? Moment vehicle explodes before £20m multi-storey structure collapses – sparking travel chaos for up to 50,000 passengers with all flights cancelled until 3pm

This is the moment a vehicle explodes at London Luton Airport, before the huge inferno that caused a car park to collapse, sparking travel chaos for up to 50,000 passengers and leaving five people in hospital.

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.

The blaze, which was finally controlled and extinguished just before 9am, started in a single vehicle with diesel engine, which MailOnline understands to be a Range Rover. As many as 1,500 cars are feared to have been damaged as a result of the collapse.

The most common cause of car fires is an electrical fault with the 12-volt battery system, according to AA technical expert Greg Carter. He added that diesel is “much less flammable” than petrol, and in a car it takes “intense pressure or sustained flame” to ignite diesel.

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.

Did you see what happened or have you been affected by the chaos? Email [email protected]

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.

As many as 50,000 people are suffering disruption as a result, according to travel expert Simon Calder, with some 240 flights set to be cancelled up to 3pm at least, and crowds of holidaymakers stranded in Luton this morning, with no way of getting home.

Liz Blackmore, 57, had parked her £48,000 Mercedes on the top floor of the car park before heading off on holiday to Portugal.

She told MailOnline: ‘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.

‘We’re devastated. It 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.’

She added that she wasn’t sure yet whether she’d be able to get any money back. 

‘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.

‘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.’

Meanwhile, eight Polish passengers revealed how they 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.’

There 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.

Passengers and even airline staff frantically tried to book hotel rooms so that they’d have somewhere to sleep for the night, but with most at full capacity, many had to sleep in reception.

Holiday Inn, Marriott, Hilton and Best Western hotels in the area are all sold out for tonight. 

The chaos has also seen a frantic dash for parking spaces, with nearly 2,000 now out of action as a result of the fire. 

A check on Luton Airport’s website at about 9am today found there was no availability for parking on any of its official sites before Friday, October 27 – with a space at the Terminal 1 Car Park available for £138 for the week from that date.

The website, which had a wait time of eight minutes just to enter it this morning amid heightened demand, said the area is just a four-minute walk to the terminal, and is the closest car park to the terminal entrance.

The fire took place at the airport’s new Terminal Car Park 2 – and no spaces were listed on that site over the coming weeks and months, even when looking one year in advance.

Demand will now likely increase for rival operators such as Purple Parking and Airparks, for which the cheapest price available through both websites for a week from October 27 was £170 for a ‘meet-and-greet’ service.

Mr Hopkinson said at around 10am this morning that the fire at Luton Airport has been ‘stood down from a major incident’.

He told reporters at the scene that a ramp is being installed ‘into the unaffected car park because the normal exit route is not safe to take vehicles out’.

He went on: ‘We’ve currently got four fire appliances and a couple of other specialist crews but we are very much focused on getting a handover and getting this airport open as quickly as we can.’

He said there are ‘just shy of 1,500’ vehicles in the affected car park, which charges £67.50 per day, with many appearing charred and covered in debris in pictures taken this morning.

He added: ‘There is a substantial number that are not damaged and our focus as well is can we remove those vehicles safely without causing any danger to the responders?’

Mr Hopkinson also ruled out speculation that it was started by an electric vehicle.

‘It’s believed to be diesel-powered, at this stage all subject to verification. And then that fire has quickly and rapidly spread.’ 

For those who had not already made their way to Luton, they were waking up to the prospect of hours of delays too, with no flights before 3pm, and the airport urging passengers to contact their airline for the latest information.

Last night, vehicle alarms and loud explosions were heard as cars were burned through one by one, with a witness describing the speed in which the blaze tore through the newly-built car park’s upper floor as ‘incredible’. 

Five people were rushed to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation following an incident that saw more than 100 firefighters on the scene, aided by 15 rescue pumps and three aerial appliances.

Luton Airport said flights would remain suspended until 3pm on Wednesday following a fire in a multi-storey car park.

The statement said: ‘Our priority remains supporting the emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff. Therefore, we have now taken the decision to suspend all flights until 3pm on Wednesday 11th October.

‘Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted.’

More than 140 flights at London Luton Airport have been cancelled so far today due to the fire – including 73 departures and 70 arrivals.

The worst-hit airline was easyJet, which has its base at the hub and was forced to axe 79 flights, including 39 departures and 40 arrivals.

Wizz Air had to cancel 25 departures and 25 arrivals, while Ryanair axed eight departures and five arrivals. One Air Hamburg departure was also cancelled.

In addition, 11 further arrivals early this morning were diverted to other UK airports including London Stansted, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Bristol.

Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said more than 100 firefighters tackled the blaze at Luton Airport.

Speaking to reporters at the scene this morning, he said: ‘Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s fire control received an initial 999 call at 8.47pm yesterday evening, reporting a car on fire on the third floor of the Terminal car park two behind me here at London Luton Airport.

‘Our first two fire appliances arrived on scene just a shade under 10 minutes later to work alongside firefighters from Luton Airport Fire Service.

‘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.

‘The incident was declared a major incident at 9.38pm. The car park has a capacity of just over 1,900 cars and we estimate up to 1,500 cars are in the affected car park.

‘At its peak we had 15 fire appliances, over 100 firefighters and a number of specialist resources including the one you will see over my right-hand shoulder, with resources provided by neighbouring fire and rescue services.’

Bedfordshire Police added: ‘We have been part of a multi-agency response overnight to this significant fire at London Luton Airport. We would advise people not to travel to the area if they can.’ 

Firefighters and an airline official were taken to hospital as emergency services battled the blaze, which broke out at Luton Airport just before 9pm on Tuesday.

Five people were admitted to Luton and Dunstable hospitals for smoke inhalation and a sixth person was treated at the scene but did not require further medical treatment.

Russell Taylor, 41, an account director from Kinross in Scotland, saw the flames after flying in to Luton Airport from Edinburgh.

He said: ‘There were a couple of fire engines with a car ablaze on the upper floor of the car park at just after 9pm.

‘A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames.

‘The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible.’

Crews from Bedfordshire and neighbouring counties have been urgently battling the blaze, they said, ‘to prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings and vehicles on air side of the airport.’

The short stay building suffered ‘significant structural collapse’ and half of the structure was fully taken over by the fire, the fire service said in an update just after midnight.

Police and ambulance crews also attended the scene and local residents were warned to keep doors and windows closed and avoid the area. 

Footage posted on social media shows fire tearing through cars parked at the airport terminal on Tuesday evening, with smoke billowing over the airport’s runway.

The fire raged into the early hours of Wednesday, with Beds Fire service sharing an update just after midnight on Tuesday stating that they were first alerted by calls at 8.47pm on Tuesday.

Russell Taylor, 41, an account director from Kinross in Scotland, saw the flames over the car park as he flew in to Luton Airport from Edinburgh on Tuesday.

He said: ‘There were a couple of fire engines with a car ablaze on the upper floor of the car park at just after 9pm.

‘A few minutes later most of the upper floor was alight, car alarms were going off with loud explosions from cars going up in flames.

‘The speed in which the fire took hold was incredible.’

Eyewitness Molly Bullard described ‘scary scenes’ as the short stay was ‘exploding into flames’.

She said on X: ‘There is no transport in or out of Luton Airport. Passengers are being evacuated to walk on the footpath via the road underpass. All airport buses and vehicles are trapped by road blocks.’ 

A spokesman for the airport wrote on X on Tuesday evening: ‘Emergency services are currently responding to a car fire in Terminal Car Park 2, restricting access to the airport.’

They later added just after 1am on Wednesday: ‘Emergency services continue to respond to a significant fire in Terminal Car Park 2, which has now resulted in a partial structural collapse.

‘The safety of our passengers and staff remains our main priority. We have therefore taken the decision to suspend all flights until 12pm on Wednesday 11th October.

‘Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted.’

They urged passengers with queries regarding parked vehicles or future bookings to get in touch and passengers looking for flight information to speak to their airlines.