THOUSANDS of passengers, including travellers to and from Worcester and Malvern, experienced severe delays and disruption to their travel plans last night when a high-speed train struck a man on the main line from London Paddington near Slough.

The incident happened when the individual wandered onto the track at around 7pm at Burnham, near Slough, Buckinghamshire.

A spokesman for train operator First Great Western said: "Thousands of people were stranded at Paddington and Slough. There were delays for two and a half hours because the main line out of London had to be closed."

He said passengers from Malvern and Worcester had to get off at Reading and take other routes into London or wait until the line reopened, while those leaving London had to find alternative ways of getting to Reading to pick up services to Worcestershire.