Rail services across Oxfordshire descended into chaos after a trackside fire forced a string of cancellations.

On June 20, rail operators warned travellers to check before setting off.

All trains between Paddington and Reading were stopped after propane cylinders caught light in a trackside workshop at Burnham, between Slough and Maidenhead, at 1.15pm on June 19.

Acetylene cylinders stored in the same building overheated and fire officers, who feared an explosion, refused to allow trains to run until the cylinders had cooled down.

Hundreds of commuters had an evening of misery.

Passengers at Oxfordshire stations bound for London were told to change at Reading and travel to London Waterloo, or make their own way to Bicester North or Haddenham & Thame Parkway stations to use Chiltern Railways services to London Marylebone.