Hundreds of passengers were left queuing for buses and taxis

Hundreds of commuters were delayed for hours after a railway tunnel was blocked by a large piece of metal which fell on to the track.

Rail firm Connex said a piece of iron sheeting fell from the roof of the tunnel just outside Sevenoaks in Kent.

People catching trains home from work on Wednesday were delayed or left stranded, with some sitting for more than an hour on stationary trains.

Commuters have criticised the way Connex and Network Rail handled the situation.

Long queues

The metal fell from the roof of the tunnel at about 1800 BST - at the peak of the evening rush hour.

A large stretch of the track had to be closed, leading to delays or cancellations of services between London Bridge and Charing Cross and the Kent and Sussex coasts.

Among the trains affected was a Eurostar service from London to Paris.

Replacement bus services were provided between Orpington and Tonbridge, but with hundreds of passengers affected, queues for the buses were long and many opted to get home by taxi instead.

The blocked tunnel is just outside Sevenoaks station in Kent

Railway engineers worked through the night to clear the line and repair any damage and trains were running as normal on Thursday morning.

A spokesman for Network Rail said the sheet which fell was one of several in the two-mile long tunnel, which were used to help with drainage.

He said engineers had checked all the others on Wednesday night, removing one more.

He said speed was being limited through the tunnel on Thursday due to damage to the rail caused when the metal fell on it. The rail will be repaired on Thursday night.

'There's no excuse'

Some commuters complained they were stuck in the tunnel for an hour, with the lights on their trains turned off and were given misleading information about the cause of the problem or how long they were likely to be delayed.

Deborah Pester of Connex said: "It happened absolutely at the worst time of the evening and commuters were very frustrated about being late home.

"The lack of information I do apologise for, because there's no excuse for that.

"I think sometimes it's difficult, particularly when a disruption like this happens at such a busy time and there's different information coming through from different sources.

"There's a balance sometimes between providing the right information when you've got it and actually not saying anything in case it may be wrong and you cause further disruption."