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Bristol Airport flights grounded after power failure Bristol Airport fire causes serious power failure
(about 1 hour later)
All flights have been grounded at Bristol Airport following a serious power failure. About 2,000 people at Bristol Airport have been left stranded after a small fire caused a serious power failure.
Some passengers have told the BBC that people are not being allowed to check in and are being asked to wait outside the terminal building. Flights were grounded with some passengers saying the terminal was in darkness when they arrived earlier.
On Twitter the airport apologised for the delays and said engineers were at work to restore the power. The back-up generators failed after the fire at 03:00 BST, with the airport reporting "significant disruption and delays" at its busiest time of day.
Paul Raymond, who is waiting to fly to Spain, said when he arrived the terminal building was in darkness. Airport chief executive Robert Sinclair said he hoped the operation systems would be back to normal by mid-morning.
"I arrived at 03:10 BST and apparently the power went off at about 02:50," he said. Paul Raymond, who is flying to Spain, said he arrived at 03:10 BST and heard the power had gone off shortly before.
"For a short time they were telling people just to leave the terminal building. There is nothing - no computers, no security - nothing is operating at all." "For a short time they were telling people just to leave the terminal building," he said.
At 06:30 BST the airport tweeted that power had been partially restored and passengers with hand baggage only were being allowed to proceed through to security. "There was nothing - no computers, no security - nothing is operating at all."
"We are now working to check in flights in order of scheduled departure time. We apologise for the delays this morning," said a spokesperson. The fire happened in a distribution panel, officials said, and the failure of the airport's back-up generator led to a complete loss of power in the terminal.
Three hours later the power was partially restored.
A major operation is currently in place to clear the backlog of flights which had been grounded.
Airport chief executive Robert Sinclair said it was a "fluid situation" but he hoped the system would be fully back to normal within two to three hours.
"Clearly I'd like to apologise to all of our passengers that have been caught up in this disruption," he said.
Passenger Alistair Barclay, from Taunton in Somerset, was due to fly to Faro but arrived at 04:30 BST to find he was one of the thousands left stranded.
"It is just one of those things," he said.
"No-one's fault. A fire in the basement apparently so you've got to go with the flow."