A man was killed after being hit by a District line train, causing hours of delays for commuters.

Some passengers were stranded on trains for nearly two-and-a-half hours after fatality at Southfields Underground station London Ambulance Service and British Transport Police (BTP) were called to the scene but the unnamed man was already dead when they arrived at about 7pm last night.

A BTP spokesman said: “BTP can confirm that a man died after being struck by a District line train at Southfields Tube station yesterday, Wednesday 17 November.

“The incident is being treated as non-suspicious.”

Trains already on the line near the station were made to stop, and were unable to move again until the track was handed back over to London Underground at around 8.50pm.

Will Gore, who was travelling home to Hammersmith, said his train stopped just short of Southfields at 6.50pm and didn’t get moving again until 9.15pm.

He said: “It was an absolute farce. They said on the tannoy that the piece of track at Southfields station is owned by Network Rail and not owned by London Underground, so they didn’t have the authority to take us off the train.

“There was nothing we could do. Most people were quite good-spirited but it was complete chaos.

“The train driver was letting people go to the loo in between the carriages. He was coming down and was unlocking one of the carriages at the end. People were weeing out of the window.”

When the train eventually began to move again, passengers were informed that they could claim back the price of the fare.

Mr Gore said: “I suppose they think a couple of quid for two-and-a-half hours inconvenience is a fair price.”