Heathrow passengers treated for injuries following car park spray attack

Passengers arriving at Heathrow Terminal 3 on Sunday said they faced hours waiting for buses after a number of people were attacked with a “form of pepper spray”.

At this stage, police believe a woman was robbed of her suitcase by a group of four men, who sprayed a substance believed to be pepper spray in her direction. 

Officers were called at 8.11am on Sunday to reports that multiple people had been assaulted by a group of men at the multi-storey car park at Terminal 3.

Armed officers responded to the incident and arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of assault, within nine minutes of the report coming in. He remains in custody and enquiries remain ongoing to locate further suspects.

The London Ambulance Service treated 21 people with injuries, including a three-year-old girl who was treated at the scene.

Five people were taken to hospital. Their injuries are not believed to be life-changing or life-threatening.

Following the incident, a large police presence could be seen in the area, with close to a dozen marked vehicles seen in the vicinity of the airport terminal.

Footage uploaded by X user @_umarjaved appears to show a figure being detained by armed police close to the airport terminal.

It comes as further footage emerged showing armed police appearing to search a carpark close to the terminal building.

Who knows what’s happening at Heathrow T3, stuck here for nearly an hour and armed police searching every car about pic.twitter.com/opjT8FffZs

— Fin Fraser (@_finfraser) December 7, 2025

 

By midday, dozens of passengers were waiting at the terminal’s bus stop for shuttles to the long-stay car park and elsewhere.

One family, who did not wish to be named, said they had waited for three hours at the bus stop after their flight landed at around 8am.

Heathrow staff handed out bottled water to waiting passengers on Sunday afternoon.

A Heathrow spokesman said: “The shuttle buses to the long-stay car park were impacted by congestion on the roads following an earlier incident which saw the Central Terminal Area tunnel closed for safety reasons.

“The buses are now operating as normal and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Rail passengers at Heathrow Terminal 2/3 station also faced long queues amid overcrowding.

Commander Peter Stevens said: “Our team have been working at pace today to review CCTV from the area and speak with witnesses at the scene.

“At this stage, it’s understood that a woman was robbed of her suitcase by a group of four men, who sprayed a substance believed to be pepper spray in her direction.

“This occurred within a car park lift, with those in the lift and surrounding area affected by the spray.

“Our officers are working to determine the full circumstances around what happened but we do believe this to be an isolated incident with those directly involved known to each other.

“We appreciate that this has been a concerning incident and I commend the actions of the emergency services and members of staff at Heathrow Airport.”