Around 100 firefighters fought a “deep seated” blaze at a major Ocado warehouse in Erith caused by three robots colliding.

It took almost 12 hours to bring the incident on Church Manorway under control, with crews first arriving on the scene shortly after 12.30pm yesterday, working until 2am.

Around 800 staff were evacuated from the warehouse. There were no reports of any injuries.

Speaking yesterday, Station Commander Steve Vydelingum said: "Firefighters worked hard in hot and arduous conditions inside the warehouse. Around 800 staff evacuated before the Brigade arrived.

“There were no reports of any injuries.

“The fire is very deep seated, and firefighters will continue to be at the scene into Saturday (17 July) damping down hot spots."

A spokesperson for Ocado told The Independent that the fire was the result of “three bots on the grid” colliding.

The company apologised after it was forced to cancel a number of deliveries and block new orders.

The spokesperson said: “The correct protocols were successfully implemented including the evacuation of the building, the activation of the sprinkler system and the presence of the London Fire Brigade.

“No one has been injured and all colleagues on site are safe. The damage is limited to a small section of less than 1 per cent of the grid having been contained by planned fire attenuation measures.

“Aside from some residual smoke smell, the vast majority of the CFC [customer fulfilment centre] is in good condition. While we expect some disruption to operations, we are working to restore normal service as soon as possible.

“We would like to thank the London Fire Brigade and all the other emergency services for their hard work and professionalism in dealing with this incident.”

A total of 15 fire engines were called to the incident, with crews from Bexley, Plumstead, Millwall, Lee Green, Greenwich, Eltham attending.