'We saw a bright flash of white and all the lights went out'

Residents who live close to the scene of a "massive explosion" following a fire at an electrical substation near Heathrow Airport have said they faced a night and day of disruption.

The airport was brought to a halt, about 67,000 homes were left without power overnight and more than 100 people were evacuated after a transformer within the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, west London, caught on fire.

Some of those forced from their homes have been critical of Hillingdon Council's response and communication with other authorities.

The council said as soon as it was made aware of the fire, "the protocols of the London Resilience Partnership were immediately activated, with extensive coordination between all organisations involved", including the fire brigade and police.

It said emergency services led the response with the council and others supporting.

Most of those who were evacuated made their own arrangements and the authority had helped 12 people with hotel accommodation, the council added.

Matthew Muirhead said he was working a night shift on Thursday when he noticed smoke rising from the electrical substation.

"We saw a bright flash of white and all the lights in town went out," the 42-year-old said.

"It was 11.30pm when we saw it, we were heading to West Drayton, so we went to check it out, we heard the sirens as we were headed to Bulls Bridge roundabout.

"My wife rang me and told me our electric was out - I found out a few hours later that Heathrow was completely shut down."

A resident living in the Hayes area, who did not want to be named, said she heard a "massive explosion" just before midnight.

"All the power went off, it just smelled like burning," she said.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said 29 people were safely evacuated from neighbouring properties following the blaze, while a further 150 people were evacuated to a rest centre.

Katrina Clements, 72, told BBC Radio London that she and her 82-year-old husband were asleep when they heard knocking at the door and were told to leave their home.

Once she had left, Ms Clements said she saw "a lot of people on the road" who had come from nearby to look at the fire.

"We just want to go home," she said.

Since evacuating, the Hayes resident added that she has had little communication from authorities and described their response as a "fiasco", though she said the council had tried to source hotel rooms for the night.

"We were just left on the street," Ms Clements said.

"There were people with babies in buggies left on the street with no communication. There's people in there that have got children and they were just told to just to get out. I can understand to get out because it's not safe. But take us somewhere safe."

Vaneca Sinclair said the response from the council and police officers overnight was unclear.

After she was evacuated police later told them to return home and grab essentials before evacuating, but no-one told them where to gather and eventually they walked to the hotel where they could have hot drinks and use the toilets.

Independent MP for Hayes and Harlington, John McDonnell, said he was "pretty shocked" and worried about the situation faced by local residents.

"There have to be questions asked about how the council reacted to this," he said.

"I don't want to be over-critical but I think they need to improve their performance. A lot of the residents didn't feel very happy about not having information until quite late on."

A Hillingdon Council spokesperson said: "To claim that we have been slow in responding is both unfair and wholly inaccurate.

"As soon as we were notified, our own emergency protocols were activated and emergency response teams worked tirelessly throughout the night with partner agencies to ensure residents have been kept safe, supported and informed.

"As well as having a strong presence on the ground in the immediate community, we've been keeping residents fully informed via our website, social media platforms and community outreach channels and helping residents calling into our contact centre."

The Met Police has been approached for comment.

With additional reporting from PA Media.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]