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Luton Airport has reopened after it suspended all flights due to a huge fire which caused one of its multi-storey car parks to partially collapse – with four firefighters and one member of airport staff taken to hospital with injuries.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a major incident at 9.38pm on Tuesday and, at its peak, had 15 fire engines, three specialist aerial appliances and more than 100 firefighters at the scene.

The fire service said one-half of the car park was “fully involved in the fire” and the building has suffered a “significant structural collapse”.

Due to fly from Luton Airport? Here’s how the fire is affecting flights

BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Screen grab taken with permission from video posted on Twitter by @Soriyn23of a fire at a car park at Luton Airport On Tuesday. All flights at the airport have been suspended. Issue date: Wednesday October 11, 2023
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Pic: @Soriyn23

Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer at Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the car park had as many as 1,500 vehicles in it at the time – with up to 1,200 believed to be damaged.

A temporary ramp was installed to enable undamaged vehicles to be removed.

Mr Hopkinson said firefighters faced a “severe and rapidly spreading fire” on arrival, and the blaze “ultimately spread to multiple floors”.

He said there was “no intelligence to suggest it’s anything other than an accidental fire that started in one of the vehicles”.

Mr Hopkinson added that the fire likely started in a diesel car, before spreading to nearby vehicles.

“We don’t believe it was an electric vehicle,” he said.

Flights were suspended until after 3pm on Wednesday, with a spokesperson for the airport confirming around 4pm that arrivals and departures from Luton’s runway had restarted.

The burnt out shells of cars, buried amongst debris of a multi-storey car park at Luton Airport
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The burnt out shells of cars, buried amongst debris of a multi-storey car park at Luton Airport

The burnt out shells of cars, buried amongst debris of a multi-storey car park at Luton Airport

Read more: Video shows moment huge fireball engulfs car park

“Additional staff remain on hand to assist passengers across the airport,” a spokesperson told Sky News shortly before 4pm.

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CCTV captures car park collapse

The first plane to land at the airport was a Wizz Air flight from Cardiff. A Ryanair flight from Luton to Lanzarote took off shortly before 4pm.

It is thought around 25,000 airline passengers were impacted by cancellations and delays, according to analysis by the Press Association.

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Overnight, firefighters were attempting to put out the enormous blaze and prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings and vehicles on the airport runway.

In an update at 8.45am on Wednesday, the fire service said it had “controlled and extinguished” the blaze, but urged people to avoid the area due to “severe traffic delays”.

The scene at Luton Airport which has been closed after a fire ripped through a multi-storey car park, causing it to collapse. Firefighters are tackling the blaze which began on Tuesday evening and appears to have destroyed hundreds of cars. Picture date: Wednesday October 11, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story FIRE Luton. Photo credit should read: Sam Russell/PA Wire
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Damage to the car park at Luton Airport

The scene at Luton Airport which has been closed after a fire ripped through a multi-storey car park, causing it to collapse. Firefighters are tackling the blaze which began on Tuesday evening and appears to have destroyed hundreds of cars. Picture date: Wednesday October 11, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story FIRE Luton. Photo credit should read: Sam Russell/PA Wire

“Four crews and an aerial appliance remain at the scene,” the service said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“All flights are suspended until 3pm. If you have a flight leaving before 3pm, please do not travel. Please avoid the area owing to severe traffic delays.”

The fire service stood down its major incident on Wednesday morning.

The East England Ambulance Service said four firefighters and one member of airport staff were taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital following the fire.

Another patient was discharged at the scene.

In a statement on X, Luton Airport said: “Emergency services remain on the scene following last night’s fire in Terminal Car Park 2.

“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.

“For queries relating to a parked vehicle or future booking please contact luton.customerservices@apcoa.com.

“Passengers should contact their airline for information regarding their flight.”

Flames could be seen tearing through cars parked on an upper floor of Terminal Car Park 2 in videos posted on social media on Tuesday night.

One witness told Sky News: “You could hear cars exploding.”

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‘You could hear cars exploding’

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Another witness said his vehicle was one of those inside the multi-storey car park.

He said he was inside the airport when the fire broke out, but knows his car has been affected as “all Car Park 2 is completely finished”.

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.”

Agnieske Szmit, 44, spent the night sleeping on the benches of the terminal building after her and her family’s flight from Luton to Gdansk, in Poland, was cancelled on Tuesday evening due to the fire.

“We missed our work today, the children should be at school,” she said.

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Remains of British man who vanished more than two years ago found in Georgia woods

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Remains of British man who vanished more than two years ago found in Georgia woods

The remains of a British man who went missing on a trip to Florida nearly two-and-a-half years ago have been found, the FBI has said.

Alex Hodgson Doughty was on holiday in Jacksonville in September 2022 when he was reported missing by his mother after she was unable to contact him.

His remains were found 35 miles north of there in a wooded area on private land near Kingsland, Georgia, the FBI said on Friday.

Overseas missing persons charity LBT Global said on a web page dedicated to Mr Doughty that he was last seen on 11 September 2022.

He was at a Jacksonville bar and grill at around 3.30pm and then got into a taxi which dropped him off in Kingsland around an hour later.

A Facebook page, Help Find Alex, said he continued to make video calls and send text messages up until 6.51pm when his phone went offline.

Federal, state, local, and international agencies were involved in the investigation and search for Mr Doughty, who was 30 when he went missing.

His remains were found on 4 February, the FBI said, adding a medical examiner had confirmed Mr Doughty’s identity.

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“While we had hoped to bring Mr Doughty’s family better news, we are thankful to be able to provide them with some closure,” said special agent Kristin Rehler.

“This discovery is the direct result of our partnerships and special agents from FBI Jacksonville’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST), who were relentless in their efforts to narrow down potential search locations.”

No criminal charges are expected, the FBI said.

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Yvette Cooper calls for new Runcorn MP after Amesbury jailed – but will keep his £91,000 salary

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Yvette Cooper calls for new Runcorn MP after Amesbury jailed - but will keep his £91,000 salary

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said Runcorn needs a new Labour MP after Mike Amesbury was jailed for beating up a constituent – and will keep his £91,000 MPs salary in prison.

She told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast: “Whether it is resigning or through recall, everyone’s clear – the people of Runcorn deserve better representation, and that would come by having a newly elected MP.”

Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017, remains as the MP for Runcorn and Helsby after being jailed for 10 weeks on Monday.

He had at an earlier hearing pleaded guilty to assaulting Paul Fellows, 45 by punching him to the ground and hitting him five more times in Frodsham, Cheshire, after a night out last October.

He has not resigned, despite calls for him to do so.

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The 55-year-old MP will keep receiving his £91,000 salary while in prison because parliamentary rules state a recall petition, which kickstarts a by-election, can only happen once an appeal period for a custodial sentence of a year or less is exhausted.

Amesbury’s lawyer stated in court he would be appealing the 10-week sentence, of which the MP will serve four weeks in HMP Altcourse in Liverpool.

There is also no mechanism to stop pay for MPs, unless they are suspended from the House of Commons, which has not yet happened for Amesbury.

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CCTV shows Labour MP punch man

Ms Cooper added: “It’s completely unacceptable what has happened. No matter who you are. No one is above the law.”

On whether the government is considering changing the law so MPs who receive a prison sentence can no longer serve as an MP, Ms Cooper said: “I think these are matters, obviously, for the parliamentary authorities and processes that is separate from the decisions government make.

“But we are clear we need a new representation in Runcorn.”

Conservative shadow minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News the public and MPs have been “disgusted” by Amesbury keeping his job and called for the rules to be changed.

“I find it extraordinary that someone can claim their salary from their prison cell when their job is to be here in parliament, representing their constituents,” she said.

“I think the government needs to look at this and we will look at these measures very, very carefully, whatever they bring forward.

“I share the public’s disgust that a Labour MP is sitting in prison, serving a prison sentence because he beat up a constituent.”

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Mike Amesbury
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Mike Amesbury punched Paul Fellows to the ground then punched him five more times

Amesbury was suspended by Labour two days after the incident, after CCTV footage was widely distributed.

He has been sitting as an independent since then and Labour has said he will not be admitted back in.

Reform UK has also called for Amesbury “to do the honourable thing and resign immediately”.

Amesbury pleaded guilty to assault by beating in January and described the incident as “highly regrettable” and apologised to Mr Fellows and his family outside the court.

After the judge left the courtroom in Chester on Monday, following sentencing, Amesbury’s lawyer asked for him to return and requested bail while he appealed the sentence.

Judge Tan Ikram returned to the court, sat down, paused briefly and said: “Application refused.”

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NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard to step down

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NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard to step down

The head of NHS England has announced she is standing down.

Amanda Pritchard was the first woman to take on the role in 2021, having previously served as NHS England’s chief operating officer, and before that, the former head of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Her decision to step down comes weeks after MPs on the cross-party Commons public accounts and health and social care committees accused her of lacking the “drive and dynamism” to radically reform the service.

It has been a “hugely difficult decision for me to stand down”, she said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I believe now is the right time – with the NHS making continued progress in our recovery, and with the foundations firmly in place to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan.”

She said it had been “an enormous privilege to lead the NHS in England through what has undoubtedly been the most difficult period in its history”.

“The NHS is full of extraordinary people, who do extraordinary things every day for patients,” she said, adding: “I am confident they will continue to achieve incredible things for patients now, and into the future.”

Ms Pritchard giving evidence to MPs earlier this month. Pic: PA
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Ms Pritchard giving evidence to MPs in the House of Commons earlier this month. Pic: PA

MPs on the health and social care committee earlier this month said they were disappointed and frustrated by the “lengthy and diffuse answers” Ms Pritchard and other officials gave them under questioning.

Last week, she admitted “we’re not all brilliant performers at committee hearings” as she was challenged on the issue on BBC Breakfast.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Ms Pritchard could be “enormously proud” of her tenure.

He said: “Amanda can be enormously proud of the leadership she has given in the face of the biggest health emergency for our country in modern history, as well as steering NHS England during turbulent political waters and six secretaries of state in her time as chief executive.

“She has led with integrity and unwavering commitment.”

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NHS England said that having discussed everything with Mr Streeting in recent months – and now that the NHS has “turned a corner on recovery from the pandemic and the foundations are in place to make the necessary changes to the centre to best support the wider NHS” – Ms Pritchard had “decided now is the right time to stand down”.

Sir James Mackey will take over as “transition” chief executive from the first of April on a secondment basis, it said.

He is the chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust and national director of elective recovery.

Ms Pritchard, who is married with three children and studied modern history at St Anne’s College, Oxford, was also deputy chief executive at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust.

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