No offense intended...my writing sometimes comes across as a bit condescending. I hope this helps to explain things a bit.
How many fire engines were not already in use? Maybe they didn't have enough spare fire-fighting capacity? Minimum numbers required for Fire Fighting Category ops.
Fly to destination? How much damage was there on the aircraft? Holed fuel tank can be nasty (See Concorde) Where was the nearest suitable airport and the nearest engineering services? How long a runway would they have needed to stop with duff brakes?
Updated delay times...how long does it take to move a 140 ton aircraft? Flat tyre, locked brake, leaking hydraulics, damaged strut... etc. Were there any spares on site? You can get a space-saver tyre from Quickfit to make the aircraft mobile and you could end up causing more damage to the gear strut and truck assembly.
Spare runway? They would have had to close it to get the damaged aircraft across and there were loads of ground staff milling about doing their 'stuff' so quite a hazard. Safer to shut it all down.
Ultimately they all did the right thing, IMHO.
someone's inept incompetence causing delays
I guess this isn't including the Gatwick issues?
Daughter arrived safely
That would be the most important thing.
