Airport evacuated over pair of hair straighteners
Thousands of holidaymakers had their travel plans disrupted yesterday after a suspected package was spotted at Luton Airport.
Passengers were evacuated from the terminal building at around 14:00hrs and flights were suspended.
EasyJet was forced to divert six flights to Stansted, Birmingham and Southend and it cancelled the remaining 41 flights to and from Luton yesterday afternoon.
Passengers on Wizz Air flights also suffered long delays. The airline had at least eight late departures and arrivals. A Luton Airport spokesman said Monarch and Ryanair flights were also hit.
He refused to confirm the nature of the suspected package, saying only it was ‘a sensitve issue’, but the Telegraph said it was believed it turned out to be a pair of hair straighteners.
Bedfordshire Police carried out a controlled explosion on the package, which had been passed through a security scanner, at 17:15hrs. The airport reopened shortly afterwards.
Officers said the item was destroyed and ‘although deemed suspicious, did not present a wider danger’. The police said no-one had been arrested.
A Luton spokesman said the airport was getting back to normal this morning, but operations was still dealing with ‘a backlog’ at 10.30hrs.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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