There was commuter chaos at St Albans City station this morning after a train broke down during rush hour.

Commuters were stuck in the station for almost an hour, unable to pass through the barriers after engineers struggled to fix a train that had stopped at City Thameslink station, in London.

Though engineers have now moved the train, a spokesman for Thameslink said there will be significant delays throughout the day.

The service should be back to normal by the evening rush hour, but two of the four scheduled trains between London and Bedford each hour, will be cancelled.

A spokesman for Thameslink apologised for the disruption and said: “A broken down train in the middle of London forced us to reduce the service, which led to significant crowding on our stations and trains."

He urged passengers to claim compensation.

Many passengers complained about the service they received at the station on Twitter.

Eleanor Gribben said: “The management of St Albans station this morning due to the disruption was terrible.”

And Steve Nowottny said: “Any info on what's happening at St Albans pls? Queues out the door of the station and as usual zero info from staff (sic).”

But Michael Hilton praised the way Transport for London staff dealt with the situation.

He said: “Credit to TfL staff at St Albans City station this morning, taking torrents of passenger abuse and dealing with it calmly.”