It's been hard to avoid the news about the oil blast in Hemel Hempstead the other day

The explosion has forced the emergency closure of nearby games distributor Andromeda Logistics, which supplies key high street retailers with titles from Capcom, Midway and Ubisoft.

The major blast at Buncefield Oil Depot caused structural damage to the adjacent building and, with the fire still blazing, the area has been sealed since for 72 hours until it can be made safe and an assessment carried out.

Although staff at the firm, a limited company that’s part of Andromeda Entertainment, have been unable to retrieve stocks of titles from inside, all shipments since the explosion have been diverted to other local facilities ready and sent out to stores.

Managing director Matthew Allen confirmed with In Stock today: “We are up on our feet and trading as normal. The incident has not affected any new releases.”

An earlier statement from the company confirmed the company’s senior management team met on Sunday to implement Andromeda Logistics' disaster recovery plan.

It read: “Until such time as the police and fire chief confirm, Andromeda Logistics is unable to give any accurate guidance as to when we will have full access to existing client inventory.

“To this end, we have informed all of our partners that, for the time being, existing orders that have not been shipped will not be able to be dispatched, and any orders for goods held at the Hemel Hempstead DC will not be fulfilled in the immediate future.”