Ocado Andover CFC grid

The fire started in a section of the ambient grid, Ocado said

Ocado has suspended operations at its Andover customer fulfilment centre after a fire broke out at the site today.

The fire brigade was on site and no one had been injured, the online supermarket said in a written statement.

The 240,000 sq ft Andover site can process around 65,000 orders a week. It’s one of four UK Ocado fulfilment centres.

Ocado said the fire had started in a section of the ambient ‘grid’, the name the online supermarket gives to the platform on which robots move to convey customers’ orders. It had affected ‘a proportion of the mechanical handling equipment and some of the grid’.

Read more: Ocado announces Zoom one-hour rapid delivery

‘All relevant safety measures were carried out.’

Some orders left the warehouse before the fire broke out and would be delivered as normal, while further orders were suspended.

‘We will assess the damage this incident has caused to the Andover CFC and update further as appropriate,’ the statement said.

The news comes on the day the retailer announced its full-year results and a new rapid delivery service called Ocado Zoom.