Sneaky Smoke Causes Evacuation at London Stansted

A passenger smoking an e-cigarette in a toilet at STN inadvertently caused a major incident in the early hours of Friday morning.

A passenger attempting a sneaky smoke ended up causing a major incident at London Stansted Airport (STN) on Friday morning when his e-cigarette set off the facility’s fire alarm. The alarm resulted in the evacuation of thousands of passengers from STN’s departures terminal at approximately 6 a.m. local time.

One traveler, named by MailOnline as Tom Orrell, captured the incident via social media. His posted photos show huge crowds waiting outside the terminal in pre-dawn darkness and Orrell described the atmosphere as ‘chaos’.

But authorities at STN clarified to the outlet that those inside the terminal were not evacuated; rather, those outside the facility were halted at the doors. However, Orrell has said that he and other travelers were evacuated when the alarm sounded.

The incident lasted for a quarter of an hour and did cause some residual delays at STN’s check-in and security desks.

A spokesman for the airport told the outlet that, “A smoke detector was briefly activated in a toilet near to the departure lounge at 5:59 this morning. Passengers were held back from entering security for 15 minutes following the alarm activation. We believe the smoke alarm was set off due to an individual using an e-cigarette in a toilet.”

They added, “We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the alarm but our priority will always be to take the necessary and appropriate actions to investigation any activation to ensure the safety of passengers and staff is maintained at all times.”

No comment has been made as to the identity or fate of the smoking passenger.

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