Fresh snow disrupts London Victoria rail services

Thousands of rail commuters face severe disruption to their journeys after fresh snowfall across south London.

There are delays and cancellations to services operating out of London Victoria and Charing Cross due to the freezing conditions.

Overnight three Southeastern trains were stuck for up to five hours, affecting about 60 passengers.

Southeastern had urged passengers to travel earlier than normal as services shut down at 2100 GMT.

A Met Office severe weather warning has been issued for icy roads and drifting snow in parts of Greater London.

More snow flurries are expected, mainly towards the south and south-east of London, with temperatures barely above freezing.

Both Southeastern and Southern trains have been operating a reduced contingency timetable throughout the day.

There are no Southeastern trains running between Victoria and Dartford, Charing Cross and Hastings and between Strood and Paddock Wood.

Both London City Airport and Heathrow Airport have reported delays and cancellations, while Eurostar suffered delays of up to 60 minutes.

Snowfall and freezing conditions have also caused severe congestion on sections of the M25 motorway in south London.

A number of late-night rail services from London to Kent were badly affected on Tuesday because of frozen tracks.

A Southeastern spokeswoman said it had hired 4x4 vehicles to transport passengers in the Orpington and Sevenoaks areas when icy roads prevented bus replacement services reaching them.

"We de-ice the tracks but as temperatures continued to drop a thick layer of ice formed and it means trains cannot draw enough power," she said.

"Network Rail installed heated conductor rail cables to prevent the points from freezing but when you have such low temperatures for a prolonged period of time, problems happen."