Passengers have been forced to evacuate trains in south London as temperatures soared above 30C (86F).

A fault on a train near Loughborough Junction brought all services in the area to a halt, three of them outside station platforms, Thameslink and Network Rail said in a joint statement.

"Without power and air conditioning on such a hot day, we pulled all resources from across Sussex and Kent to get personnel on site to safely evacuate passengers as quickly as possible along the track," it said.

Angela Lewis, a Gatwick-bound passenger, said it was "a bloody nightmare". Thameslink apologised to those affected for the "difficult and uncomfortable experience".

The incident began at about 10:40 BST with the evacuations of the first two trains completed at about 12:20 and the third at about 13:10, a spokesperson said.

They added that due to engineering works, this was the only route taking Thameslink services south out of London and "and disruption is expected into the evening".



Writing on social media, Ms Lewis said passengers had been left on the train for about two hours before being removed.

"Some people had luggage and infants, had been trying to get to Gatwick," she said.

Ms Lewis added that some had missed their flights due to the disruption, adding: "Who will compensate them?"

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Watch: Delivery rider throws water to trapped train passengers

A delivery rider with a good aim came to the aid of passengers trapped on a south London train as temperatures soared above 30C.

A fault on a train near Loughborough Junction on Saturday brought all services in the area to a halt, three of them outside station platforms, Thameslink and Network Rail said in a joint statement.

The video shows the Just Eat rider accurately throwing bottles of water to a passenger standing in an opened door on the train metres above him.

In other videos shared on social media from onboard the train, the passengers can be heard cheering the rider.