A Dagenham blaze which damaged a recycling centre the size of a football pitch was completely put out on Thursday night after almost two weeks.

The fire at Hunts Waste Recycling, Chequers Lane, was described as one of the biggest in the capital for years.

Havering firefighters had been returning to the scene daily since it broke out on August 12.

Two hundred firefighters including crews from Romford, Wennington, Harold Hill and Hornchurch tackled the fire, which burnt plastic, paper and woodchips.

The blaze was brought under control four hours later but fire engines – including those from the Havering stations - have been going to the site in turn every three hours to put out remaining pockets of fire.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “This was one of the largest fires that we have seen in London in recent years.

“We have been gradually scaling down the incident since August 12 but it’s quite normal with fires of this size, which involve huge amounts of highly combustible material, to remain at the scene for some time after the fire is under control.

“We have a duty to protect surrounding properties and to ensure that any deep seated pockets of fire that remain are extinguished.

“From Tuesday we have had one fire engine on the site and the incident was closed down last night.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Hunts Waste Recycling was unavailable for comment.