Victoria Station closed: ‘Fire alert’ at London hub causes rush-hour chaos
Commuters faced rush hour chaos this morning as one of London’s busiest stations was evacuated because of a fire alert.
The Victoria, District and Circle lines were not stopping at Victoria station, sparking travel misery for Londoners.
The mainline station was still open for Gatwick Express, Southern Rail and Southeastern services, though.
Witnesses reported seeing up to three fire engines outside of the central London hub as the station was cleared.
Victoria Tube Station closed.... three fire engines at least, hope it’s a false alarm pic.twitter.com/sz1RxHz9Q6
— Rhodri Harries (@rhodrih)
British Transport Police said: “The team are currently at Victoria which has been evacuated due to a technical fault causing the station to go into evacuation mode.
“Please avoid the station whilst this is being fixed. Thank you for your patience.”
Transport for London said the busy tube lines were still closed “while we fix a faulty fire equipment”.
What happen at victoria station? We been evacuated a lots of truck of the london fire brigade, crowds start to be big #london #underground #victorialine #victoriastation pic.twitter.com/aza8BgACTf
— Fabi Silva (@GoFasr)
Frustrated travellers took to social media, with one person saying: “Chaos at Victoria as the underground is shut.
“Fire brigade and ambulances in attendance. Lots of confused people outside studying bus maps on their phones.”
Don’t go to Victoria Station! Mad busy right now pic.twitter.com/Xi1AvKkEEe
— Gabriel Ferreira (@Ferreira_uk)
While another wrote: “Fire alarm at Victoria first thing on a Monday morning. Wonderful.”
The station has since reopened.
The London Fire Brigade said it was called to a fire alarm, but they left the scene by 7.47am.