Armed police swarm Heathrow Airport and search cars in ‘major disruption’

People travelling to Heathrow Airport this morning have faced major disruption due to an ongoing police incident.

Armed police were filmed searching cars, with ‘several’ people filmed being arrested outside by drivers waiting in their cars.

A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport told Metro: ‘Our teams are responding to an incident with the emergency services in the multi storey car park in Terminal 3. We will provide updates shortly.’

Little official information has been given about the nature of the problem, but it is not thought to be terror related.

A passenger waiting in a car shared footage of armed police searching vehicles, writing: Just had someone walked past me in cuffs… not a good sign.’

Fin Fraser posted on X: ‘Who knows what’s happening at Heathrow T3, stuck here for nearly an hour and armed police searching every car about.’

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told Metro this appeared to be an ‘isolated incident’ .

The Heathrow Express rail service was suspended in both directions, while part of the Elizabeth Line connecting to the airport was also suspended, although services have now resumed.

The Heathrow Express website warned of ‘major disruption’, saying there were ‘no services in either direction due to a problem currently under investigation’.

Transport for London earlier said there were ‘No services between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow Terminals while the police respond to an incident.’

Meanwhile, road links to the UK’s biggest airport were also disrupted.

National Highways posted on X this morning: ‘A serious incident within the @HeathrowAirport Tunnel has resulted in the closure of the #M4 spur road southbound between M4 and J4A.’

They said the incident had now been resolved, and the road has reopened. It is not clear if this is related to the incident which has affected trains.

Heathow’s flight status page does not show major delays to departures.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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