Trouble on track for Blue Monday

Commuters between Leeds and Wakefield endured severe delays because of a fault on a train while signalling problems between Sheffield and Doncaster caused delays of up to 20 minutes.

The misery was seen elsewhere in the country, with power supply problems, a broken-down train and “poor rail conditions” led to delays and over-crowding on routes in several parts of the nation.

The Monday morning journey to work became more of a trial, with delays of up to an hour.

Some of the worst disruption hit South West Trains services into London Waterloo because of power supply problems and poor rail conditions, and on East Coast services between and a similar issue near Hanborough led to delays of up to 10 minutes to trains between Worcester and Oxford.

A broken-down train at Birmingham New Street blocked some platforms, while buses replaced trains between Inverkeithing and Kirkcaldy because of a signalling problem.

Poor weather between Wareham and Weymouth meant trains could not run between these stations. They were replaced by buses, which extended journey times by up to 20 minutes.

Flooding between Taunton and Castle Cary caused delays of up to 25 minutes to trains between Taunton and Westbury.

Commuters in Guildford, Surrey were warned not to try to board one train to London because it was already full before arriving, and were told to switch to a slower train which had fewer carriages than normal, so it quickly became overcrowded.

The day was dubbed Blue Monday by some as the festive season became a distant memory and workers realised how long it would be before their next holiday. Tetley branded it Brew Monday as it announced the return of a family used to advertise its products.