Hundreds of commuters trying to get to Braintree were stranded after a points failure.

Jason Ring, of Martens Meadows, Braintree, had left London Liverpool Street on the 4.34pm service yesterday but was still stuck at Witham at 6.40pm due to the fault.

He said there were between 200 and 300 people waiting on the platform to try and get to Braintree but few replacement buses.

Greater Anglia’s Twitter account had reported disruption until about 8pm and said there was a limited bus replacement service.