Damaged overhead wires north of Blackfriars station brought major disruption to commuters on Friday evening (August 23).

Rail operating company Southeastern said that trains to and from the station were being "cancelled or diverted" at the station as repair crews scrambled to fix the damage.

Disruption for passengers, they said, was expected to last until 7.30pm.

"Damage to the overhead electric wires at London Blackfriars is causing disruption to Southeastern services through this station.

"Services running through this station may be cancelled or diverted."

National Rail meanwhile said that they expected the disruption around the station to last until 7.30pm.

In later updates posted to Twitter, a spokesperson for Southeastern apologised to those impacted by the travel chaos.

As is normal in these scenarios, the company confirmed that existing tickets routed through Blackfriars could be used on alternative London transport services to help commuters complete their journeys.

"Because of electrical supply problems north of #Blackfriars, our trains to and from Blackfriars this evening will be diverted to and from Victoria or cancelled.

"This is to free up platform space at #Blackfriars to allow more @TLRailUK to terminate and start trains from there.

"Sorry for the inconvenience this evening.

"You may use your ticket on London Underground between our London terminal stations," the spokesperson said.