ELEVEN people were left trapped at South Ruislip rail station for 35 minutes in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The incident came as the line faced a reduced service in the Tube strike, which started on Tuesday evening.

At 12:25am, passengers alighted from the last Chiltern Line train from Marylebone to High Wycombe, only to realise there was no way off the platform.

Passenger Beren Reid, 22, of Rayners Lane, said: “The tunnel that goes under the mainline tracks and on to the station concourse had been shut off and padlocked at the point where it joins the underground passageway.

“From there, we could see that the exits at the front of the building had also been shut off. We tried calling out and rattling the gate to get the attention of Tube staff, but nobody came.”

The passengers reported the incident to police at 12:28am, but British Transport Police contacted them eight minutes later to say it would take up to an hour for someone to reach them.

Mr Reid said: “Among us was a young lady named Miss Bloem, who lives just across the road from South Ruislip station, who had recently had a fractured rib and was therefore walking with a stick.

“I myself had also sustained a sprained ankle on Monday and, although other members of the group successfully managed to get over the railings on Platform One of the mainline station, this was physically impossible for myself and Miss Bloem.

“By now, we were all weary, freezing, and angry that we would have to wait 30 minutes or more for help."

They were eventually rescued at 1am by a London Underground employee who was locking up nearby stations for striking employees.

Mr Reid said: “I find it shocking that there was a distinct lack of communication between Chiltern Railways and London Underground.”

He added: “Had the London Underground employee not been there, we would most likely have been stuck in the cold and high winds until 1:30, waiting for the British Transport Police to appear.”

Peter McNaught, Operations Director for the Central Line, said: “After South Ruislip Underground station had been closed for the evening on Wednesday, we were made aware that around 15 customers of Chiltern Trains, which also serves the station, had mistakenly got off at the station.

“We immediately sent a member of staff to open up our gates so that the customers could make their way home.”