Royston firefighters have been praised for their actions after a tree struck a train on Saturday afternoon.

Herts Fire and Rescue Service received a call to evacuate passengers after an eight-coach 1547 Ely to London King’s Cross service was hit by the tree, which blocked both lines near Royston.

As a result services travelling from London terminated and restarted from Letchworth, with many cancellations.

Passengers from the train were taken to Coombes Community Centre in Burns Road, where Gillian Morland is the manager.

She told the Crow: “I just wanted to say that the Roston fire brigade were brilliant. By the time I arrived to make sure everyone had what they needed, some passengers had control of the kitchen and were making endless cups of tea and coffee all for free and had a washing up system going.

“All the passengers were in every room of the centre sitting in a dry, warm and safe venue with free wi-fi and were waiting for onward travel to be organised for them to continue their journey.

“The emergency services were all on hand, as well as North Herts District Council emergency staff.

“It did take more than three hours to get buses to the centre just to take the passengers to Letchworth, but they came all the way from Barking in Essex and were organised by the rail authorities.

“All the passengers were very good humoured and resigned to having to wait, but some did end up missing their flights and onward train connections which included EuroStar trains.”