Rail services across Oxfordshire descended into chaos after a trackside fire forced a string of cancellations, including a ceremony in Didcot.

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.

A party of VIPs, including rail bosses, were stranded in London and some of their guests at Didcot as they were due to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Cotswold Line with the naming of a train in honour of the late Sir Peter Parker, chairman of Britain Rail from 1976-83.

Guests were left waiting on the platform at Didcot Parkway where a dias had been constructed for Sir Peter's widow, Lady Parker, to unveil the name plaque on a diesel rail car 'Sir Peter Parker 1924-2002'.

Unfortunately, Lady Parker along with other VIPs including Richard Bowker, head of the Strategic Rail Authority, and Chris Kinchin-Smith, managing director of First Great Western, were left in London.

John Carter, 66, a retired Thames Trains conductor, said Sir Peter was a popular and respected head of Britail Rail and it was sad that the unveiling had been called off.