Sir Sadiq Khan has urged London’s hotels not to jack up their prices and instead “put out a helping hand” to the thousands of stranded travellers unable to take off from Heathrow Airport on Friday.
Reports of hotels “profiteering” from the closure of the UK’s largest airport due to a major fire at a nearby electrical substation began to emerge over the course of the morning, with establishments accused of increasing the cost of a room by as much as seven times their standard value.
But the mayor highlighted the generosity shown by one hotel in helping to accommodate the 150 people who were evacuated from their homes in the area of Hayes nearest to the substation.
Reports of hotels “profiteering” from the closure of the UK’s largest airport due to a major fire at a nearby electrical substation began to emerge over the course of the morning, with establishments accused of increasing the cost of a room by as much as seven times their standard value.
But the mayor highlighted the generosity shown by one hotel in helping to accommodate the 150 people who were evacuated from their homes in the area of Hayes nearest to the substation.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I got a call during the course of the night first from my office and then from the commissioner.
00:06This was an incident declared a major incident very early in the course of the night. This was
00:11a fire that began around 11.30. Ten fire engines were called out because a substation caught fire.
00:18It was quite soon apparent because of proximity to Heathrow airport this needed to be declared
00:22a major incident. During the course of the night there's been some fantastic multi-agency
00:26response coordinated by the fire brigade. Around 6.30 this morning most of the fire was brought
00:32under control which is really important. This is the fire service working for seven hours
00:36continuously. They saw some of the fire station substation that's still on fire. Because of the
00:43scale of the fire unfortunately the fire brigade had to apply a cordon which meant more than 150
00:50residents evacuate from their homes. The commissioner's hoping they can be allowed to
00:55return to their homes during the course of today as the fire has become smaller. Unfortunately in
00:59the course of the night more than 70,000 homes and businesses lost their power. The national
01:04grid have worked really hard to divert power in. That's reduced now the numbers of families
01:10homes without power is now 4,000. We're hoping over the course of the day more of those homes
01:16have their power restored. Unfortunately there are many families businesses inconvenienced as
01:21well of course those who are planning to use Heathrow today. From your conversations with police so far
01:26how confident are you of a cause being identified at some stage? Well the fire brigade have got a lot
01:32of experience in relation to causation or relation to investigations. There's a chief investigator
01:37who's been on site since the start of the fire. They're really close with the Met Police Service as you
01:42would expect. The Met Police Service then call in the various experts they have at their disposal
01:47in relation to fire of this nature. Clearly because of the proximity to Heathrow airport because of the
01:52infrastructure we're talking about it's not a surprise the counter-terror teams involved in the investigation.
01:57As soon as the police service are comfortable sharing their conclusions they'll
02:02make sure those conclusions are made available. There has been some level of disbelief that the
02:06UK's most important transport site is apparently reliant on a single substation. Is this a risk
02:11that had been foreseen anywhere or has it come as a surprise to everyone? It's really important we
02:15don't speculate in relation to the various power entry points to Heathrow airport. The other
02:20substations that serve Heathrow airport. Heathrow airport took the decision and it's their decision to take
02:25to close down the airport because of concerns that they had and I support their operational
02:30independence to do so. Clearly there'll be questions and lessons to be learned in relation
02:35to this as they are with any major incident and I know from past experience not just Heathrow
02:40airport, not just National Grid, the fire brigade, the police, the government indeed, City Hall, the
02:44council and others we're working together to make sure lessons are learned. And do Heathrow need to
02:48consider their own internal resilience arrangements in your view? Well look the key thing is to make
02:53sure that you know powers return as soon as possible to Heathrow airport so Heathrow can
02:58return as soon as possible business to usual. I know Heathrow you know as an airport is run
03:04very well. They're assiduous in making sure lessons are learned in relation to challenges
03:08they have and I'm positive that Heathrow will make sure they work closely with National Grid
03:12and other partners to make sure lessons are learned. There have been reports of hotels in
03:16the area jacking up their prices essentially profiting off of travellers misery. What's your
03:21message to accommodation providers in London? Well we know that the government's working really
03:25closely with us and others to make sure for example those who are stranded can return with
03:29empty seats on aeroplanes and so forth. We know one of the local hotels I've heard of for example
03:33opened their doors to the 150 families who were evacuated. I'm not aware about those hotels who
03:39surge pricing and so forth. What I'd hope is there is a really good London spirit we all recognise.
03:44There are thousands and thousands of people in the inconvenience. Some people were going to go on a
03:48you know a holiday that probably saved up a year for some may be going for a honeymoon. I'd hope
03:53that hotels and others would have a good community spirit and understand that these are people who
03:57are really frustrated and really disappointed and some devastated. They'd be putting a helping hand
04:02you know rather than making profit out of it. And just finally have today's events in any way
04:06informed or evolved your thinking on Heathrow's desire for a third runway? No they're two really
04:11separate issues and we mustn't conflate the two. What today is about is making sure the fire's
04:15under control. Really important the families and homes who've lost their powers have that
04:20return as soon as possible. The families who've been evacuated return to the homes as soon as
04:23possible but also really importantly for the fire brigade and the police service to carry out the
04:27investigations to find out the causes and to make sure we can return power through national grid to
04:32the airport and others as soon as possible. There'll be a further conversation about lessons
04:36that can and should be learned which is also equally important.