The grocery delivery and technology company said that the fire at its Erith CFC “occurred just outside the building in a hopper containing waste packaging”, that the London Fire Brigade was in attendance and the fire has been extinguished.

The retailer said, “no part of the material handling equipment” was involved in the blaze, although the depot had to be evacuated “there was some disruption to picking and some customer orders have had to be cancelled”.

Ocado said that the “fire suppression measures in place performed as intended” and the fire did not spread to the main building of the Erith depot.