UPDATED 11.00

A POWER failure at 04.00 today threw services at one of Britain's largest stations into chaos.

Trains through Birmingham New Street were being seriously disrupted after the failure at Proof House Junction, which is a short distance south of the station itself. Services started to return to normal by mid-morning.

London Midland had advised its passengers not to try travelling through the area, and those who wanted to travel on Virgin, CrossCountry and Arriva Trains Wales to or through New Street were also being urged not to travel unless it was 'absolutely necessary'.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “Our engineers have been working to fix the problem at Proof House Junction since 04.00.

"We are very sorry for this disruption and a difficult start to the week.”

A London Midland spokesman said “We apologise to all our passengers affected by this signal failure. We are working to get displaced trains and train crew back into position so that we can start running a full service on all lines as soon as possible. If passengers experience delays of 30 minutes or more we encourage them to claim delay repay compensation."