Commuters have had their travel plans disrupted because a series of glitches across the London transport system. A communications failure on the Docklands Light Railway has been blamed for a suspension of all services.

Four platforms at Liverpool Street station also had to be closed after a problem was reported with the signalling system. Travellers coming into and travelling out of the station found that journey times were pushed up by as much as 20 minutes.

London Overground services were also experiencing significant delays because of over-running engineering projects. The shut down of the DLR prompted Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Bob Crow to point out just how difficult it was going to be to keep the transport system in the capital running during the Olympic Games.

He said that the recent issues proved how important it was to have emergency teams on hand and adequate staffing levels to deal with any eventuality.

Outside the capital, East Midlands Trains are continuing with a series of one day strikes throughout May as a demonstration against pension reforms. Drivers voted to walk out after bosses announced that contributions were to be reduced because of a deficit in the pension scheme. The company claims that it is managing to run more services than it originally forecast and that it will continue to put on replacement bus services to make sure that passengers experience the least amount of disruption.