Child among those treated after pepper spray used in suitcase robbery

A three-year-old girl was among those injured after men allegedly used what police believe was pepper spray during a suitcase robbery at Heathrow Airport.

The Metropolitan Police said the substance was sprayed when a group of four men robbed a woman of her purse in a car park lift on Sunday.

Police said bystanders were affected by the spray and 21 people were injured, five of whom were taken to hospital.

A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and others were being sought.

The Met said this was an isolated incident and was not considered to be linked to terrorism or protest.

Commander Peter Stevens said police believed the people directly involved knew each other. Police had previously said the argument escalated and resulted in people being injured.

It was stated that the injuries were not life-threatening or not life-threatening.

Trains were delayed earlier in the day and the car park was closed due to the incident, but reopened as of 11:30 GMT.

Police and emergency services were called to the multi-storey car park in Terminal 3 at 08.11.

While waiting for an elevator in the parking lot, Tom Bate saw “young men dressed in black rushing through the crowd” before passing through a side door.

“As soon as they left people started coughing and then I started coughing too,” he told the BBC. “I felt a burning sensation in the back of my throat.”

As he was leaving the parking lot, he said he saw police arriving. “It was incredible to see the police running towards danger,” he said. “I was so glad to hear it wasn’t terrorism because it felt like I was in the middle of an attack; it was pretty violent.”

Social media footage showed a large armed police response, fire trucks and a police officer searching for a handcuffed person.

Fin Fraser, who flew from the US to Heathrow on Sunday morning, told the BBC he saw “armed police walking around and checking people’s cars” as he tried to get out of the car park.

“When they came to ours, they knocked on our window, told us to close it, and then looked inside the car.”

Describing it as a “surreal experience”, he added: “It felt like I was in a James Bond movie”.

While rail services were disrupted on Sunday, Heathrow advised passengers to “allow extra time on the way to the airport”.

Heathrow Express and parts of the Elizabeth Line were stopped on Sunday morning but resumed operating later in the day.

Heathrow advised passengers to “allow extra time when traveling to the airport and check with their airline with any questions.” Due to the traffic congestion on the surrounding roads following the incident, the airport advised passengers to use public transportation.

While airport staff handed out bottled water to passengers waiting for buses from Terminal 3, one family told the PA news agency they had waited at the bus stop for three hours for the shuttle to the long-term car park. Shuttles generally depart every 15 minutes.

Police and Crime Minister Sarah Jones told people in the area to follow “regularly updated” police advice.

“My thoughts are with everyone affected,” he said in a post on X, adding that he “heartily thanked” emergency services for their “quick response.”

Additional reporting by Harry Fell and Andree Massiah