Rail services between Kent and London have been delayed this afternoon after a train struck a tree that had fallen onto the tracks at Sole Street.

A train was travelling from London Victoria to Dover Priory at just after 1pm when the incident took place.

The line was was closed in both directions for an hour to allow engineers to remove it disrupting services from London to Dover, Ramsgate and Gillingham.

Services were reported as back to normal at 2.30pm but passengers have been asked to remain patient.

A Southeastern spokesman said: "The line was closed in both directions at Sole Street after a tree fell onto the track.

"The line was closed for about an hour whilst this was removed and was reopened at 2.15pm

"We would ask passengers to please bear with us while we work to recover a running service which is expected to take a few hours."

A Network Rail spokesman added: "At 1:02pm we received a report that the Dover Priory to Victoria train had hit a tree that had fallen down the side cutting onto the track.

"The train was not damaged and managed to continue, however it was not safe for further trains to pass through the area until the tree had been cleared.

"At 2.15pm the line was reopened, services are now returning to normal."