Fog grounds flights at Heathrow and London City Airport
Thick fog over London led to flight cancellations at Heathrow and London City airports on Monday morning, with a yellow warning in force until 11am.
Incidents in this story
- Heathrow Airport, London · Monday morning: Fog cancels Heathrow and London City flights
- M20 motorway, Maidstone · Saturday evening: 30-vehicle pile-up in fog shuts M20 in Kent (2 injured)
Thick fog over London led to the cancellation of flights at Heathrow and London City airports on Monday morning, as forecasters warned visibility could fall to 50 metres or less.
A Met Office yellow weather warning for fog, covering London and most of the South East, was in force until 11am. By 6.30am, 7 flights from Heathrow and 3 from London City had been cancelled.
The cancelled Heathrow flights included British Airways services to Belfast, Glasgow, Dublin, Edinburgh, Zurich, Paris and Basel, due to depart between 6.15am and 7.35am. At London City, early departures by Luxair to Luxembourg, KLM to Amsterdam, Swiss to Zurich and Air Dolomiti to Frankfurt were also cancelled.
The fog also disrupted rail travel: an Elizabeth line station was shut during Monday's morning rush hour because of the conditions, adding to the delays facing commuters on one of London's busiest lines.
Niamh Murray, a Met Office operational meteorologist, said the conditions were a "perfect recipe" for fog: long autumn nights, falling temperatures and light winds. She said the cold air could make the fog stubborn to clear well into the next day, with freezing fog possible further north and frost expected in parts of Scotland.
Motorists were urged to take extra care in low-lying fog after a crash involving more than 30 vehicles shut the M20 in Kent for nearly 12 hours. The pile-up, in foggy conditions on Saturday evening, seriously injured 2 people; the motorway was closed both ways between junctions 8 and 9 near Maidstone.
AA president Edmund King said fog could transform a familiar road within minutes, and urged drivers to leave more room between vehicles rather than follow the rear lights of the car ahead, warning that doing so could give a false sense of security on the road.
Follow this story
An email when there is a real update (a new toll, a cause, an arrest). Nothing else; stop with one click.
Free: one story at a time. Members follow as many stories as they like.
What we know
- 1 outlet · Evening Standard Thick fog led to flight cancellations at Heathrow and London City airports on Monday morning.
- 1 outlet · Evening Standard A Met Office yellow weather warning for fog covered London and the South East until 11am.
- 1 outlet · Evening Standard By 6.30am, 7 Heathrow flights, including services to Belfast, Dublin and Zurich, and 3 London City flights had been cancelled.
- 1 outlet · Evening Standard A 30-vehicle pile-up in fog shut the M20 in Kent for nearly 12 hours and seriously injured 2 people.
How each fact is established: Verified checked by an ECTV editorOfficial stated by an official body2+ outlets reported independently by two or more news organisations1 outlet reported by a single news organisation so farUnconfirmed claimed or reportedHow we label facts
Figure history
PremiumSee how the casualty figure in this story changed, when, and who gave each number.
Why it matters for Europe
Heathrow is one of Europe's busiest airports, so fog-related cancellations there can disrupt connecting flights across the continent, while London City's short-haul network links the capital directly to several European business centres. The M20 pile-up shows how quickly low visibility can turn hazardous on major roads, a recurring risk in the UK through autumn and winter, when long, calm nights regularly produce dense fog that is slow to clear.
Sources
Reported by 14 reports from 11 independent outlets in 7 countries.
- Evening Standard: Heathrow and London City Airport flights cancelled as thick fog shrouds capital
- Evening Standard: Russell Brand: Inside the 'squalid, unsafe and overcrowded' London jail where he faces years locked up
- Antena M: Rasel Brend pred sudom u Londonu radi izricanja kazne za silovanje i seksualne napade
- RTL Nieuws: Slachtoffers Russell Brand doen verhaal: 'Blijvende impact'
- NU.nl: Russell Brand krijgt 10,5 jaar cel voor verkrachting en seksueel misbruik
Source balance
PremiumSee how the 11 outlets behind this story spread from left to right, and which are official or OSINT sources.
Intelligence file
PremiumSee how we verified this story
Confidence and impact scores, 9 more sources, the full situation report and the event timeline.
Questions and answers
- Why were flights cancelled?
- Thick fog reduced visibility to as little as 50 metres, forcing cancellations at Heathrow and London City airports.
- How long did the warning last?
- The Met Office's yellow fog warning for London and the South East was in force until 11am on Monday.
- Was anyone hurt?
- Yes, 2 people were seriously injured when more than 30 vehicles crashed in fog on the M20 in Kent on Saturday evening.
This article was written with AI assistance from 14 verified reports and checked under the ECTV editorial policy. Spotted an error? Request a correction.