Passengers trapped for TWO HOURS without air conditioning as Britain bakes on hottest day of year
FURIOUS rail passengers were forced to abandon their sweltering trains and trudge along the tracks in scorching heat after a catastrophic breakdown left hundreds stranded on Britain’s hottest day of the year.
Extraordinary scenes saw men, women and children filing along railway lines near Loughborough Junction in south London on Saturday as temperatures soared above 33C — with some trapped for up to two hours in carriages that had turned into ovens.
The mass evacuation came after multiple Thameslink services ground to a halt, leaving travellers without power or air conditioning as the mercury hit record-breaking levels.
And here’s what’ll really get your blood boiling: passengers heading to Gatwick Airport missed their flights after being stuck in the hellish conditions.
‘LIKE AN OVEN IN HERE’
Angela Lewis, who was among those affected, posted a video on X showing passengers gathered outside Loughborough Junction, writing: “After nearly two hours on the stuck train to Gatwick we are abandoned outside.
She later added: “Was it entirely necessary to keep us waiting nearly two hours in stuck in an overheated carriage for that? we should have been out within 30 minutes max.”
The evacuation came after some travellers had endured up to two hours trapped inside sweltering carriages, prompting angry complaints about the handling of the situation.
Another frustrated passenger didn’t mince words, writing to Thameslink: “You will have hell to pay. We’ve been stuck on this hot and humid train for over an hour.
She added: “The doors were closed because we were told we may be moving. That was 15 minutes ago. It’s like an oven in here and we’re being slow-cooked.”
The passenger said the train was “stuck between Blackfriars and East Croydon” in south London.
CHAOS ON THE TRACKS
Social media footage captured the extraordinary scenes of passengers filing along the railway tracks beside stationary trains.
Passenger Ioannis Dimitrousis, who filmed the incident, said he was travelling to Brighton when his train stopped. He said people were “locked in the train with no fresh air and no air conditioning.
Video footage showed people, including young children, getting off a train near Loughborough Junction in south London and walking along the tracks with their luggage.
“We were just going to Brighton but still messed up our day,” Dimitrousis said.
He added that the train also had “lots of people” who were heading to Gatwick Airport who missed their flights — adding insult to injury for travellers hoping to jet off for summer holidays.
EMERGENCY SERVICES SCRAMBLE
The scale of the crisis became clear as emergency services rushed to the scene. London Fire Brigade sent around 25 firefighters to assist with the evacuation of what they initially estimated to be 1,500 passengers.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: “We were called at 11.46am today to assist around 1,500 railway passengers who were on board two trains which were stranded near Loughborough Junction station.
British Transport Police also scrambled units to the scene. A spokesperson said: “Officers were called to Loughborough Junction Railway Station at just before 11am today to reports of a train broken down nearby. Officers assisted Thameslink and Network Rail and all passengers have been evacuated safely.
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, according to officials.
RECORD-BREAKING HEAT
The rail chaos unfolded as Britain baked in the year’s hottest temperatures. The Met Office confirmed that Surrey recorded provisional temperatures exceeding 33C, officially marking Saturday as 2025’s hottest day to date.
The extreme heat coincided with a yellow warning for thunderstorms affecting south-east Scotland, Yorkshire, the Midlands and Wales from Saturday evening until 3am Sunday.
National Rail issued urgent advice to passengers: “Please check before you travel and allow more time for your journey, as trains may be affected by weather related incidents.
They added: “Please also carry water with you – you can find water refill stations at all Network Rail managed stations and some other larger stations.”
THAMESLINK’S GROVELLING APOLOGY
Thameslink acknowledged the severity of the situation, with a spokesman stating: “Earlier today, a fault on a train near Loughborough Junction brought all services to a halt in the area, three of them outside station platforms.
The company explained that the loss of power and air conditioning on such an exceptionally hot day prompted them to mobilise resources from across Sussex and Kent to facilitate passenger evacuations.
“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,” they said.
“This would have been a difficult and uncomfortable experience for our passengers and we are truly sorry,” the spokesman added.
The spokesperson said due to engineering works, the route affected was the only one that Thameslink trains can take south out of London — meaning the chaos was unavoidable.
‘A BLOODY NIGHTMARE’
Angela Lewis, the Gatwick-bound passenger, summed up the feelings of hundreds when she described the ordeal as “a bloody nightmare”.
Both Govia Thameslink Railway and Network Rail issued apologies for the significant disruption caused to travellers.
Kam Zaki, another trapped passenger, took to social media to vent his frustration: “stuck in @TLRailUK train to brighton between elephant & castle & loughborough junction past 20 minutes… rammed with people, hottest day of the year… why are there 1. no aircond? 2. no windows that can be opened? there is no ventilation… medical issues waiting to happen.”
SUMMER OF RAIL HELL?
The incident raises serious questions about Britain’s creaking rail infrastructure and its ability to cope with extreme weather.
With climate change bringing more frequent heatwaves, Saturday’s meltdown could be a worrying sign of things to come.
Passengers were left asking why modern trains don’t have windows that open — a basic feature that could have provided relief in the sweltering conditions.
As one traveller put it, being trapped in a metal box with no air conditioning in 33C heat isn’t just uncomfortable — it’s potentially dangerous.
For the hundreds who spent their Saturday trudging along railway tracks in the blazing sun, it was a journey they’ll never forget — for all the wrong reasons.
