Heathrow slams National Grid boss after he claimed airport ‘had enough power to stay open’ after substation blaze

HEATHROW Airport have blasted a National Grid boss who claimed the airport had “enough power to stay open” following a substation fire.

The blaze at the electrical substation in Hayescancelled over a thousand flights, left scores ofhomeswithout power and disrupted countless lives.

The Thursday night chaos saw 25,000 litres of coolingoiligniting in a fireball, although the cause of the blaze is still unknown.

It forced Heathrow to shut down for 18 hours,causing travel misery for 300,000 passengers.

But National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew, claimed that two other substations serving the site were working and could have provided sufficient power to keep the busy airport open.

Speaking for the first time since the fire, Mr Pettigrew told the Financial Times: “There was no lack of capacity from the substations. Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow.”;

He added: “Two substations were always available for the distribution network companies and Heathrow to take power.

“Losing a substation is a unique event – but there were two others available. So that is a level of resilience.

“I can’t remember a transformer failing like this in my 30-plus years in [the] industry.”;

But Heathrow have now hit back after Pettigrew's claims.

A spokesperson said that the “unprecedented incident” meant it would not have been possible for Heathrow to “operate interrupted”.

A Heathrow spokesperson said:“As the National Grid’s chief executive, John Pettigrew, noted, he has never seen a transformer failure like this in his 30 years in the industry.

“His view confirms that this was an unprecedented incident and that it would not have been possible for Heathrow to operate uninterrupted.

“Hundreds of critical systems across the airport were required to be safely powered down and then safely and systematically rebooted.

“Given Heathrow’s size and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a significant challenge.

“In line with our airline partners, our objective was to reopen as soon as safely and practically possible after the fire. The emergency services and hundreds of airport colleagues worked tirelessly throughout Friday to ensure the safe reopening of the airport.

“Their success meant that over the weekend, we were able to focus on operating a full schedule of over 2500 flights and serving over 400,000 passengers.

“Lessons can and will be learned, which is why we fully support the independent investigation announced by the Government yesterday.”

Heathrow Airport was shuttered for hours last week with the chaotic fallout of the fire still leaving those around thetransporthub reeling.

The chaos has also led to wider concerns about Britain’s energy security and power supplies for critical national infrastructure.

Thomas Woldbye,Heathrow’s chief executive, claimed on Saturday that the widespread disruption was “not created at Heathrow Airport.

He said: “It was created outside the airport and we had to deal with the consequences”;.

AIRPORT CHAOS

It comes after reports that Woldbye went tosleepand left the decision to closeEurope‘s busiest airport to his deputy, Javier Echave, in the early hours of Friday morning.

The 60-year-old had reportedly been at an event in central London when the power first went out after 11pm on Thursday before going back to the scene, according to the Sunday Times.

As the extent of the inferno became clear, senior bosses were split into two “gold commands”.

At around 12.30am it was decided Woldbye's command would go to bed leaving his deputy in charge until around 7.30am.

Insiders said the decision was taken for safety reasons so Woldbye was well-rested to make clear decisions on when the airport should reopen.

But the government has ordered an investigation into the closure of the airport, whichreturned to normal business on Sunday.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has ordered the National Energy System Operator to “urgently investigate” the power outage.

He is working with Ofgem and using powers under the Energy Act to formally launch the grid operator's investigation.

The shutdown is estimated to have cost the airline industry £60m to £70m.

Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan police initially led the investigation, but the force said the fire was not believed to be suspicious.

London fire brigade is now leading the inquiry, which will focus on the electrical distribution equipment.