Incident · Property damage

Collision of three robots on the grid starts a fire at Ocado's Erith fulfilment centre

Ocado said damage was limited to less than 1% of the grid and that no one was injured. Thousands of customer orders were reported cancelled (The Register) and operations were expected to take about a week to resume (Engadget).

Occurred 2021-07-16 · Ocado Smart Platform · Ocado Group · Warehouse & Logistics Robotics

How to read this record

Incident records on DEPLOY are compiled from public sources (regulatory filings, news reports, and operator disclosures) and reflect what has been reported and tracked to date. They are not legal findings, determinations of fault, or safety ratings, and may be updated as new information is verified. See the sources below for the underlying references.

Track Collision of three robots on the grid starts a fire at Ocado's Erith fulfilment centre

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REST API: /v1/incidents/91aec6ba-9451-4dc8-b7be-a38528d20024
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Sources (2)

Robot crash sparks fire at Ocado warehouse · https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/ocado_robot_crash/ · 2021-07-19
A robot collision sparked a fire at the UK's top online grocer · https://www.engadget.com/ocado-robot-collision-fire-114027027.html · 2021-07-19

Response (1)

Ocado Group · operator · 2021-07-19

As reported by The Register (July 19, 2021): Ocado said the fire "appears to have been caused by the collision of three bots on the grid resulting in a fire", that damage was limited to under 1% of the grid, that no humans were injured, and that "the vast majority of the CFC is in good condition."

Common questions

What happened in Collision of three robots on the grid starts a fire at Ocado's Erith fulfilment centre?

On Friday 16 July 2021 a fire broke out on the storage grid at Ocado's Erith customer fulfilment centre in south-east London. Ocado said the fire "appears to have been caused by the collision of three bots on the grid" (company-stated, preliminary wording). The building was evacuated, the sprinkler system activated and the London Fire Brigade attended. Ocado said damage was limited to less than 1% of the grid and that no one was injured. Thousands of customer orders were reported cancelled (The Register) and operations were expected to take about a week to resume (Engadget).

When did this incident occur?

The incident is recorded as occurring on July 16, 2021 on the DEPLOY registry. The date reflects the underlying real-world event, not the registry record's creation date.

What robot was involved in Collision of three robots on the grid starts a fire at Ocado's Erith fulfilment centre?

Ocado Smart Platform is the recorded robot involved in this incident.

Has anyone responded to Collision of three robots on the grid starts a fire at Ocado's Erith fulfilment centre?

1 response is recorded on the DEPLOY registry, from Ocado Group. Each response is append-only with structured provenance.

What is the current status of Collision of three robots on the grid starts a fire at Ocado's Erith fulfilment centre?

This incident is an active record on the DEPLOY registry; no retraction or correction has been issued.

Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-11-01

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-11-01

Sources by quality tier

2: unclassified; Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

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Canonical ID 91aec6ba-9451-4dc8-b7be-a38528d20024