A rail journey that should take just over an hour took passengers on a staggering 18 hour trip one bank holiday weekend.

On Saturday May 23, passengers boarding the 13.35 train from Kettering to London St Pancreas embarked on a journey they surely won’t forget in a hurry.

Passengers had to leave the train at Derby and transfer by bus to Blythe Bridge where further bus journeys with changes at Crewe, Stafford and Rugby saw them arrive in Milton Keynes at 23.20.

They then had a 5½ hour wait before catching a train to Euston, and then a final tube journey saw them reach London St Pancreas at 8.01am.

The major diversion was due to planned engineering works over the bank holiday period.

Regular commuter, Danny Coles commented “This is completely crazy; you could have cycled to London quicker than that.”