It was leaves on the line again that caused chaos on the rail network around Epsom on Tuesday morning.

A diesel-powered leaf train that clears the lines broke down outside Leatherhead station at 6.10am.

This caused a backlog of rolling stock unable to get to stations serving Victoria and Waterloo on the Southern and South West rail routes for several hours.

It was only after 9am that some semblance of normality returned, as locomotives slowly began moving again.

But several trains did not stop at their designated stations as they made their way direct to Victoria and Waterloo causing more misery for some commuters.

One commuter said: “This is terrible. I have been waiting at the station for ages and nothing has happened. What’s even worse is that there is no information telling commuters what is going on.”

A signalling problem near Streatham is also causing disruption to services between Streatham, Clapham Junction and Sutton.