THOUSANDS of Kent commuters faced delays this morning after a fire at the Gillingham railway depot disrupted train services.

Connex South Eastern said passengers were being held up by up to half an hour with a bus shuttle service replacing trains between Gillingham and Gravesend.

A cable at the Gillingham depot near the station caught fire at about 8.30 last night, cutting off power, which also had to stay off while repairs were made.

The bus service for London commuters began at 6.30 this morning and was expected to continue until 10am.

They were stopping at all stations en route, Chatham, Rochester and Strood. A Connex spokesman said: “It is unfortunate that this has had to happen on a Monday morning and we apologise to passengers for delays.

"The fire at the depot was small but it has caused major disruption because it was an electrical fire, which affected our power. We had engineers working overnight to fix it."