Road access to Heathrow’s Terminals 2 and 3 was temporarily restricted on Saturday after a burst water main flooded the central terminal area. The leak has since been contained, roads have reopened and Heathrow says operations are normal, but the incident caused inconvenience for passengers and people trying to reach airport car parks during a busy school-holiday period.

Travellers were initially advised to avoid road travel to the affected terminals and use rail or Tube services instead, while some could not access parked vehicles. One passenger travelling to New Jersey said she had to be dropped at Terminal 5 and take a train to Terminal 2 after not receiving notification from her airline. Heathrow handles up to 1,300 flight movements daily, and recorded more than 267,000 passengers on its busiest day so far this year, 19 July.