A false alarm led to hours of disruption and delays on the Norwich-London mainline.

Officers from Norfolk Police and British Transport Police were called to the railway line just north of Diss at about 6pm tonight to a report of a blockage on the line.

The mainline was reopened 30 minutes later after officers checked the line and found it to be a false alarm.

However, the closure caused hours of disruption with services being delayed until around 9pm.

The incident resulted in the 6pm Norwich to London Liverpool Street service being cancelled and the 8.30pm service from London to Norwich.

Greater Anglia earlier tweeted that the 5pm Norwich to London service had been delayed at Colchester due to a disruptive passenger and police were boarding the train.

Services suffered further problems last night as a result of a fault with the signalling system at Chadwell Heath, near London, which meant that some trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

The rail operator said that services between London Liverpool Street and Norwich were delayed by up to 20 minutes.