ENGINEERING work overrunning in the London Paddington area has caused delays for people travelling through Oxford. 

Services in and out of London Paddington have been delayed or cancelled, First Great Western said.

Disruption is expected to last until the end of service today and people can use Saturday tickets to travel on Sunday, according to the rail company.

The firm added that travellers going between Oxford and London were advised to use Chiltern Trains from Marylebone to Banbury and then change. 

One Twitter user, @kathystirling said her mother had been delayed by more than an hour on her journey between Reading and Oxford. 

In a statement First Great Western said: "Due to overrunning engineering work in the London Paddington area, services are not running between London Paddington and Reading which is resulting in cancellations and delays.  

"Passengers travelling between Reading and London are advised to travel with South West Trains via London Waterloo. "

It added: "Passengers are advised that disruption is likely to be ongoing until at least 3pm.  For customers affected, tickets dated for today will be accepted for travel tomorrow."

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Trains in and out of London King's Cross have also been cancelled because of overrunning Network Rail engineering works north of the station, with a reduced service tomorrow.

All East Coast and Thameslink & Great Northern passengers must start or end their journey at Finsbury Park in north London, with at least one change of train, Network Rail said.

Najib Mohamed, 18, from north London, said he had to make other arrangements after arriving at King's Cross this morning expecting a train to take him to work outside of the capital.

He said: "It is usually very, very busy here, but not today. I am supposed to be working as a fundraiser today and getting told where to go once I get here, but there are no trains so I think I might just go back to bed."

Other travellers took to Twitter to vent their frustration.

Caroline Hannam posted a picture of a packed Finsbury Park stairwell, writing: "Happy Xmas everyone. Thank you @nationalrailenq. Physio at 11, not likely!"

Another Finsbury Park traveller joked that rail staff at the station must be auditioning for a rebooted Beadle's About - the prank show that aired in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Rail operators' advice to defer travel until Sunday or Monday comes as many workers who travelled to see relatives over the festive period are expected to use the railways to return to work this week.

East Coast spokesman Paul Emberley said: "Network Rail has apologised to passengers for the inevitable delays to their travel plans on Saturday as a result of the overrunning engineering works.

"East Coast is particularly sorry too for the inconvenience to its customers as a result, on what we know is an already very busy travel day immediately following the Christmas break."

Network Rail said the work was part of a £200 million Christmas investment programme, with most railways expected to return to normal on January 5.

It is one of 300 projects being undertaken over the holidays at 2,000 sites up and down the country by 11,000 engineers.

A spokesman said: "What has happened is really regrettable and unfortunate, but it is a small part of a massive amount of engineering investment taking place over Christmas."

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