COMMUTERS were battling to get home as engineering work between London Liverpool Street and Stratford disrupted train services in and out of the capital.

COMMUTERS were battling to get home as engineering work between London Liverpool Street and Stratford disrupted train services in and out of the capital.

Robert Michael, 37, from Ipswich was one of the many frustrated travellers stranded yesterday as all services terminated at Stratford, forcing passengers to catch underground connections into the London terminal.

Mr Michael said: “This is just unacceptable.

“The service is just appalling. It is Bedlam in Stratford.”

Mr Michael, who pays �5,000 a year to travel to London every day, said underground carriages were struggling to cope with the massive increase in people.

Having faced a two-hour journey to work yesterday morning, Mr Michael was expecting further delays on his journey home.

“There is a total lack of information,” he said. “Paying for a travel pass is daylight robbery.”

Engineering work which had disrupted the service was expected to last until New Years Eve.

Signalling problems also delayed journeys between Stratford to Ipswich and Colchester by up to 15 minutes.

Geraint Hughes, a spokesman for National Express East Anglia (NXEA), said posters, and leaflets warning of the works had been available at stations for the past few weeks.

“This work has been planned for a long time and we have had information out early this year,” he said. “This always happens at this time of year as it is a very good time for engineering works.

“We are sorry if customers have had individual problems but we have tried to do our very best to minimise inconvenience for passengers.”

jo.thewlis@eadt.co.uk