HASLEMERE commuters already hit by a big hike in train fares next January were dealt another bout of rail misery last week as services in and out of Waterloo ground to a halt.

There was also travel chaos in Grayshott and Hindhead, caused by heavy snow that resulted in Woolmer Hill School closing for safety reasons last Monday, and Stepping Stones School shutting early and then remaining closed last Tuesday because conditions were still unsafe.

There were chaotic scenes during rush hour at Waterloo last Monday, described as “absolute carnage” by one town resident, following a line-side fire just after 11am that damaged the signalling system, causing more than 50 cancellations.

South Western Railway (SWR) urged passengers to avoid travelling by train at all following the incident, which left hundreds of commuters stranded for hours at Waterloo just as overnight temperatures were predicted to drop as low as minus 12.

Passengers endured long delays due to cancellations of all services and the disruption continued until the early evening on the following day.

The crowd waiting for trains on Waterloo’s concourse was so great that all the entrances were closed, causing even more confusion, at 6pm, on Monday.

The crush was equally bad at Clapham Junction, where many mainline services from Waterloo had been forced to terminate.

Commuters locked out of Waterloo until the crowds eased were also unable to check vital information boards to see when trains were leaving, compounding the confusion.

Abandoning hope of getting home by train, some Haslemere-bound passengers resorted to sharing taxis. Others travelled back on other lines to Farnham and Woking and made their way back from there.

One angry Haslemere season ticket-holder, who did not wish to be named, said: “The journey back on Monday evening was absolute carnage. Waterloo was dangerously overcrowded with people and eventually shut for safety reasons.

“Little information was given out as to if and when trains would be running.

“The trains that eventually ran were terribly overcrowded and, as usual, when things like this happen, it was a case of every man for themselves.

“It was all the more painful, having been told days earlier that the price of our already very expensive season tickets would be increasing by 3.4 per cent in 2018.

“They need to get better at dealing with issues as they arise – or even better, preventing them happening in the first place.”

Apologising for the disruption in a joint statement on Tuesday morning, SWR managing director Andy Mellors and Network Rail Wessex managing director Becky Lumlock said: “A line-side fire outside London Waterloo caused damage to the signalling system.

“This led to track circuit failures on three of the main lines to and from London Waterloo, which are the parts of the signalling system that monitor the presence of trains on sections of track.

“For a period of time we were unable to use platforms one to nine. This caused large amounts of delays, and many alterations and cancellations were made across the network to manage the overall service.”

After Network Rail engineering staff got eight of the first nine platforms working normally they had to work overnight to get platform one back into action.

But many trains were not left in the right place for the start of Tuesday’s rush-hour resulting in alterations to some services – some were cancelled, delayed, or ran with fewer carriages than normal as a result.

It was also battle stations on Monday in and around Hindhead, due to overnight snow that continued to fall during the morning rush hour, causing gridlock on the A3 and the access road uphill towards Grayshott and Haslemere.

Woolmer Hill staff had no choice but to shut for the day, due to the bad travel conditions that saw its minibus stuck in Hindhead on its way to collect pupils.

Headteacher Clare Talbot said: “We assessed the site before 7am on Monday and due to our location up on the hill, the conditions were already bad.

“Our minibus was already stuck in Hindhead unable to continue its journey to collect pupils on the school run.

“Given the forecast was for heavy snow until 2pm that day, we had to take a decision at the time in the best interests of our pupils and staff.

“We could not run the risk of pupils being unable to get home in the event parents and school coaches could not collect pupils and deliver them safely to outlying areas.

“The school was open on Tuesday, but our extensive site was very icy, with many areas out of bounds due to sheet ice.

“Our pupils were a credit to us and themselves and conducted themselves very sensibly and maturely.”

Traffic ground to a halt on Grayshott’s Headley Road, and on Court Road and Hindhead Road on Monday morning, with an accident on the Hindhead Road, on Monday evening, adding to the delays.

Grayshott parish clerk Laura Musco said: “A five-minute walk was taking drivers half an hour on Monday morning and residents complained roads had not been gritted.”

Haslemere Town Council also alerted Surrey County Council to complaints about roads which had not been gritted.

A Surrey County Council spokesman said: “The roads were gritted daily during the recent cold spell, on some days twice, to keep Surrey moving – but ice can still make driving tricky so we would urge everyone to take extra care in wintry conditions.“

The town council’s winter emergency plan saw former mayor Sahran Abeysundara use one of the two gritters bought last year to keep pavements ice-free in Wey Hill.