Communters suffered a nightmare start to the week after cable thefts wreaked havoc with the trains.

The latest theft of copper wire, today, was from cables between Hatfield Peverel and Witham and is the fourth act of vandalism on the line in little over a week.

Trains were cancelled between Colchester and Chelmsford as passengers had to use rail replacement buses to continue their journey, and the service to Norwich was reduced to one train an hour.

National Express, which operates the line, advised customers not to travel in the area due to the disruption.

Read more in the Witham Times on Wednesday.