_Incident · Property damage_

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

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

- **Occurred:** 2021-07-16
- **Kind:** `property_damage`
- **Status (derived):** active
- **Model:** [Ocado Smart Platform](/models/ocado-smart-platform.md) (id: `fa37baec-4f69-477a-a794-813f797314f8`)
- **Company:** [Ocado Group](/companies/ocado-group.md)
- **Category:** [Warehouse & Logistics Robotics](/amr)

On Friday 16 July 2021 a fire broke out on the storage grid at [Ocado](/companies/ocado-group.md)'s Erith customer fulfilment centre in south-east [London](/locations/london.md). 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).

## Sources (2)

1. **Robot crash sparks fire at Ocado warehouse** · https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/ocado_robot_crash/ · 2021-07-19
2. **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
> 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](/companies/ocado-group.md)'s Erith customer fulfilment centre in south-east [London](/locations/london.md). 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](/models/ocado-smart-platform.md) 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](/companies/ocado-group.md). 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.


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