Police no longer treating fire that shut Heathrow Airport as 'potentially criminal matter'

Met Police cannot sack officers by removing vetting clearanc

The Metropolitan Police cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting clearance, the High Court has ruled. The decision comes after Sergeant Lino Di Maria successfully mounted a legal challenge, supported by the Metropolitan Police Federation, after having his vetting removed over sexual assault allegations, which he denies. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the ruling on the law "has left policing in a hopeless position". “We now have no mechanism to rid the Met of officers who were not fit to hold vetting – those who cannot be trusted to work with women, or those who cannot be trusted to enter the homes of vulnerable people. Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Heathrow power fix would’ve taken hours, says expert

Simon Gallagher, founder of UK Network Services, said Heathrow could have had enough power from one live substation during the outage, but it would have taken hours to reconfigure the airport's network. He acknowledged National Grid’s point that there was sufficient capacity but stressed Heathrow's challenge in adjusting to use that power in time. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Passenger hopes Heathrow learns from airport closure disrupt

Akhil Vyas, a passenger caught up in Friday’s Heathrow Airport closure, recalled the moment he learned his flight to Dubai for a family holiday was cancelled. He said that he hopes that Heathrow will learn from the incident and create a contingency plan to prevent future disruptions. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transport Secretary: Heathrow fire an 'unprecedented' crisis

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called the Heathrow substation fire an "unprecedented event of very significant magnitude" after it halted flights for 18 hours. She praised firefighters and staff for their response, noting backup generators kept critical systems running but couldn’t power the entire airport. The government and Heathrow have launched investigations into resilience planning and infrastructure lessons. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn