PASSENGERS are being 'strongly urged' to avoid using trains today and tomorrow after a number of incidents caused major disruption.

South West Trains services heading to London Waterloo are facing severe disruption, which is expected to remain until the end of service on Wednesday, August 16, after two trains collided.

South West Trains says the incident was a "low speed derailment" involving a passenger train which hit a Network Rail engineering wagon at around 5.40am between Vauxhall and London Waterloo.

Travellers have also been told avoid travelling because of a points failure. Services travelling to and from London Waterloo may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

In a statement, a South West Trains spokesman said: "We now strongly advise customers not to travel on our network today or tomorrow.

"Our trains and stations are very busy. You should consider using alternative routes.

"An earlier points failure and an unrelated low-speed partial derailment has caused extensive disruption to services today. Trains are unable to use platforms 1 to 13 at London Waterloo and this reduction in available platforms means that many services will need to terminate before London Waterloo and many services will start away from London Waterloo.

"Due to the time and place this event has occurred, please be aware that the morning peak trains and stations will be very busy."

He added: "An investigation to establish the cause of the incident is underway. It would not be appropriate to speculate on the cause of the incident at this time."

It comes as commuters continue to suffer problems due to work being carried out at London Waterloo to extend platforms. As a result, fewer train are currently operating until August 28.

South West Trains says tickets will be accepted on Cross Country trains between Bournemouth and Reading and Southern services between Southampton, Portsmouth and London Victoria via any reasonable route.

London Ambulance Service said it had checked over three people following the "derailment", adding: "Thankfully they did not need to go to hospital."