‘Minor Frost’ Causes Major Delays For Weary Commuters

Going nowhere. Noticeboard shows extent of delays (Joe Wyndham)

Forget the wrong kind of snow.

Thousands of commuters were left stranded on Friday morning after their trains were halted by a “minor frost”.

Angry passengers, hoping to travel between Kent, Sussex and London experienced delays of up to two hours despite weather conditions being relatively good.

Southeastern railway blamed “icy conditions”.

Southern railway was also affected, with trains unable to run between Redhill and Tonbridge, Haywards Heath and Lewes and Redhill and Reigate.

A statement on the company’s website said: “Due to ice affecting the conductor rail, trains cannot take power and we aren’t able to run services between these stations,”

The delays were so bad that the MP for Tonbridge, Edenbridge and Malling, Tom Tugendhat, has written to Network Rail demanding an explanation for the “chaos”.

Tory Tom Tugenhadt took to Twitter to complain (Twitter)

The delays came despite clear skies and bright sunshine on parts of the network affected.

That fact was not lost on many fed-up commuters who also took to social media to complain about the service - and excuses - from railway companies.

Southern complained for the service and on Twitter said passengers could apply for compensation.

‘Mild Frost’ is just the latest excuse to a ever-growing line of reasons for train delays.

Train companies have previously blamed “too many passengers”, “illegal immigrants on the line”, and even a “giant clown on the line” for poor service after an inflatable Ronald McDonald had blown from the roof of a restaurant onto a track in South Wales.