A drone took to the skies within Heathrow Airport’s premises for the first time ever – in order to inspect a warehouse roof which is too flimsy for staff to walk on because it is made from asbestos.

Graham Degg, who runs drone photography firm Eyeup Aerial Solutions from his home in Ashtead, in Surrey, was commissioned by Menzies World Cargo to find the source of leaking in one of the warehouses it leases.

Mr Degg was approached because the roof of the warehouse, 500 metres from the airport’s southern runway, because it would be unsafe to send someone onto the “rigid yet weak” roof.

The drone pilot said: “Asbestos has always been flimsy. It meant the roof is rigid, but not very strong. In the past they would have had to get up there themselves but with difficulty, I suppose.

“It depends how far you go back in the health and safety regime.”

Menzies Aviation, the parent company of Menzies World Cargo, said it considers such warehouses safe working environments.

A company spokesman said: “We comply with all relevant legislation, building and health and safety regulations in our upkeep and use of the building.”

He said in previous years the company would have brought in roofing contractors using cherry pickers.

The cause of the leak turned out to be was a cluster of weeds which had blocked a section of guttering. Menzies Aviation said it would consider using drone photography again to inspect its roofs.

Drones have gained notoriety in recent years after a number of reports in the national media of near-misses with aeroplanes.

NATS, formerly National Air Traffic Services, said a thorough safety analysis was conducted both by Heathrow Airport and NATS, as any commercial drone flight in UK airspace has to meet “very strict” criteria.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said non-commercially operated drones should not be “anywhere near” an airport.

The CAA said it did not have data on the number of commercial drone flights within UK airspace to date.

Mr Degg said the flight, on December 22, it was not complex one, although it took place in a “high risk environment”.

He said: “I was quite nervous until we carried out the test flight – I was nervous about it. It was to tell us whether we could fly. We might have had to just pack up and go home.

“There are near misses but I would imagine they are all almost exclusively non-professional pilots.”

Mr Degg said he first suspected his was the first within Heathrow Airport’s premises because he was told prior to the flight that the “eyes of Heathrow Airport” would be on him.