Hundreds of commuters are facing a nightmare journey home as one of the country’s busiest train stations is “at a standstill”.
Trains in and out of London Victoria are facing major delays and cancellations until the end of the day, following a “major signal failure” near East Croydon.
Images posted on social media showed hundreds of passengers held on the station concourse, unable to catch their Southern, Southeastern and Gatwick Express trains home.
Thameslink services out of London Bridge have also been affected by the problems, which are expected to last until the end of the day.
Victoria and London Bridge are Britain’s second and fourth busiest stations, carrying 75 million and 48 million passengers in 2017/18 respectively.
Rob Broomby, a TV producer, was stuck at Victoria and said it was the “worst transport chaos” he had seen.
He added: “There was a lot of good humour in the bar as people settled in for a long wait, but when the platform indicators began flashing on and off it felt more like a Christmas tree with dodgy wiring.”
Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, was caught up in the disruption at Victoria on Wednesday evening.
He described the central London hub as being “at a standstill” and apologised to those struggling to get home.
He tweeted: “I’m sorry to every passenger, I know there’s a lot more that needs sorting on this service, I’m fighting for that.
“You have been let down badly this evening.”
Network Rail apologised and advised people to find other routes if possible.