Passengers between Oxford and Bicester Town were delayed yesterday after signalling problems in the Oxford area caused services to be cancelled.

First Great Western (FGW) offered passengers a replacement bus service between Oxford and Bicester after the problems emerged at 6am.

The technical difficulties also caused 20-minute delays on services running from Oxford to Didcot Parkway.

FGW spokesman Adrian Booth said trains services resumed between Oxford and Bicester after Network Rail fixed the signals at 9.30am.

He added: “Once trains started running again, there were delays to some services as a result of the morning’s disruption.

“The signalling problem was the responsibility of Network Rail, and we have done our best to help passengers.”

Rail users are now in talks with FGW managers over threats to cut a 10 per cent season ticket discount, introduced earlier this year in the wake of the company’s recorded poor punctuality rates.

In the four weeks to January 6, just 78 per cent of trains in the area ran on time. The target is 90 per cent.

The discount was agreed in February, but talks are now taking place to see if it will be retained following the announcement of new ticket prices.