Heathrow denies 'mayday' calls during storm

Heathrow Airport has denied claims four planes made 'mayday' calls as they were running out of fuel while battling the storms.

The Sunday Times reported that jets were unable to land in high winds on Friday and were diverted to Manchester.

The newspaper reported that distress calls were made by the planes when they thought their reserve fuel was coming to an end.

But a Heathrow spokesperson told ITV News: "The story in the Sunday Times is untrue. There were no mayday or distress calls received at Heathrow.

"Due to high cross winds some aircraft were diverted to other UK airports that have spare runway capacity."

A British Airways flight from Moscow to Heathrow was another flight diverted.

ITV journalist Jonathan Swain was on board and tweeted: "Even the cabin crew were worried. We we like a paper plane swinging over London approaching HRW."

A British Airways spokesperson told The Sunday Times: "All planes last night were low on fuel but we had more than enough to get to Manchester. We understand other [operators'] aircraft were on mayday."

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