AN Okehampton resident was ‘absolutely gutted’ about missing the start of the Queen’s state funeral due to rail disruption.

No trains could enter or leave Paddington station, west London, from 6.30am on Monday because of damage to overhead electric wires near Hayes and Harlington station.

Services run by GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line were expected to be disrupted for the rest of the day. Many affected passengers planned to be in London for the start of the day’s events but were delayed for several hours including Bev Palfreman from Okehampton.

‘I’m absoluely gutted,’ said the 61-year-old. ‘The Queen has just been there throughout the whole of my life. This was the only thing I wanted to do.’

People who planned to travel to Paddington were being advised to take a South Western Railway train from Reading to Waterloo instead.

One passenger said it took them five-and-a-half hours to reach Paddington from Castle Cary, instead of the planned one hour and 40 minutes.

Mourners travelling to the funeral events in Windsor from Paddington were also affected.

A Network Rail spokesman said on Monday: ‘We are very sorry for the disruption which we expect to continue throughout the day.

‘We are working hard to get services running as soon as possible and passengers are strongly advised to check before they travel.

‘We will continue to update passengers as the situation develops.’