Attack of the drones: Part 2
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Police at Heathrow FLIGHTS were stopped from leaving London Heathrow for more than an hour last night after a reported sighting of a drone flying near the runway.
The scare at Britain’s busiest airport comes just weeks after a similar incident at Gatwick grounded more than 1,000 flights and caused holiday travel chaos.
Thousands of passengers were stranded on planes and faced long delays when departures resumed.
Passenger Charlie Hammond, 21, of Leigh-on-sea, Essex, was held up on a BA flight to Hong Kong. He said: “Some were furious. I could feel anxiety in the air.”
The reported sighting on the northern runway comes just a day after the Government gave police powers to land, seize and search illegal drones and issue fixed penalty notices for minor offences.
DISRUPTION
A Heathrow spokeswoman said the airport was working with officers to “prevent any threat to safety”.
She said: “As a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate.”
Flights were taking off again about half an hour after Heathrow issued the statement, according to the Flightradar24 website. The sighting was reported to the Metropolitan Police just after 5pm.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said before flights resumed: “The military are preparing to deploy the equipment used at Gatwick at Heathrow quickly, should it prove necessary.”
Heathrow and Gatwick are investing millions in equipment to prevent future flight disruption.
Gatwick was repeatedly forced to close between December 19 and 21 due to reported drone sightings.
No arrests have been made since a couple were released without charge on December 23.
Sussex Police is continuing to investigate “relevant sightings” from 115 witnesses, describing 93 as “credible” including airport staff, police and a pilot.