Hundreds of commuters suffered rush hour misery yesterday after two platforms at Sutton station were evacuated due to a train engine fault.

Passengers were told to leave platform one in the Brighton Road station after smoke started to emit from one of the Thameslink train’s motors as it was standing, ready to depart, at about 5.45pm on Tuesday, April 11.

Platform two was also evacuated shortly afterwards.

Three fire engines from Sutton and Wallington arrived about 10 minutes later, but took no action as the driver had brought the malfunction under control.

Commuter Adam Baker said he was given little information by staff during the incident.

He said: “I was pretty annoyed with it all, it was the last thing I wanted after a long day at work.

“We were told to leave the train shortly after we got on, but there was not a lot of information about why we had to get off. It was only when I smelled the smoke that I realised something was going on with the train.

“Once we were outside all the other trains were held at red signals for about 45 minutes to an hour.”

A Southern spokesman said: “While the incident was being attended to, we were unable to run trains between Epsom and London which led to delays and cancellations in the area for a short period of time.

“Southern and Thameslink tickets were being accepted by South West Trains, London Underground, London Buses and Tramlink.”

The train was taken to Southern Railway’s depot in Selhurst for inspection at about 6.35pm.