COMMUTERS travelling on the Thameslink service from St Albans City Station into London faced further disruptions to their train journeys this morning.

The combination of a broken-down train and passenger mutiny caused chaos on the Thameslink service during the height of rush hour.

A train running from Bedford to Sutton broke down in central London shortly before 8am, causing up to 45-minute delays throughout the service while engineers removed it from the tracks.

Meanwhile, rail operator First Capital Connect was forced to terminate one of its services at Cricklewood, with the driver announcing that all passengers should disembark.

However, while many obeyed the driver's request, about 20 rebellious passengers refused to leave the train.

Witnesses left stranded on the station platform reported that staff and the driver shouted at the disobedient passengers, but their reprimands fell on deaf ears. Other witnesses have refuted that this was the case. One commuter, who did not want to be named, told the Review: "He (the driver) remained calm through out the ordeal. "Constantly on his phone trying to resolve the situation and trying to get information for all of us."

FCC spokesman Roger Perkins said: "The train came to a halt in Cricklewood and the driver would have made an announcement that it was going to terminate there.

"Twenty passengers would not get off the train and eventually, because of that, the train did then run.

"The effect of that is that it caused more delays to other people on other services up and down the line.

"When we do this it's not a decision we take lightly, it is for very good reason. It's about regulating the service and getting as many people into London as quickly as possible when we have a serious delay such as this."