A blaze in a car park at Stansted airport damaged 24 holidaymakers’ cars causing almost £250,000 of damage over the Bank Holiday weekend.
An electrical fault in one of the vehicles is believed to have been the cause of the fire in the long-stay car park.
The fire service was called out in the early hours of Sunday morning after a number of cars were reported to be alight.
High winds caused the flames to spread rapidly through the car park and it took 25 firefighters an hour to bring the blaze under control.
Fire crews fought to contain the fire to prevent it spreading to the hundreds of other cars.
A Stansted spokesman said: “It will be an unpleasant surprise for the owners returning to find their cars burnt out. But we are arranging free taxis to take them home or a 40% discount with a car rental firm.”