Two men and a woman suspected of a hoax which sparked a major security scare at Gatwick Airport have been released.

They were arrested after a passer-by spotted a dumped white Ford Escort, stripped of its number plates, on the A23 underpass next to the south terminal building. Police arrested the trio, all from Sussex, early on Saturday on suspicion of placing an article with intent contrary to Section 51 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, which relates to bomb hoaxes.

Discovery of the car sparked a security alert, which caused mayhem for commuters.

Roads surrounding the scene, including the A23, were closed for five hours and rail services through the area were suspended as police examined the car.

Part of the south terminal was evacuated and more than 4,000 arriving passengers were prevented from leaving. Four flights were delayed.

In the north terminal, scores of passengers missed their flights because they were held up in the transport gridlock.

However, the airport remained open and flights were not cancelled.

Army bomb disposal experts carried out three controlled explosions on the vehicle but police eventually ruled out an attempted terrorist attack.

The all-clear was given at 1.40am on Saturday, almost five hours after the first alert.

The car had been left under a walkway leading to the terminal and a concerned member of the public called police at 8.50pm on Friday.

John Dunkling, Sussex Police chief inspector of operations at Gatwick, said: "The location of the vehicle and the situation we found it in just gave rise to some suspicion about why it should be there.

"Many passengers had been travelling for several hours and many had young children with them.

"Despite this, the co-operation we received was first class.

"While we regret any inconvenience we were simply not prepared to risk public safety."

Police and BAA staff said an emergency contingency plan had ensured minimal disruption to the airport.

Andy Rozumski, Gatwick terminal manager, said: "Everything went according to plan for dealing with such an incident.

"The road the car was left on is a public highway. It's like any other road in that someone can drive up and dump a car and no one could stop them."

Monday September 15, 2003