Thameslink have cancelled services between London and Peterborough at short notice for the second day in a row.

The train operator is already running a reduced timetable this week due to ongoing strikes, but commuters have faced additional cancellations on top of that.

Yesterday (Wednesday, July 5), there were no trains from London to Peterborough between 5pm and 8pm, and between 10pm and midnight. There were also no trains from Peterborough to London between 1pm and 3pm, 6pm and 7pm, and 8pm until 10pm.

Exactly the same cancellations have now taken place today (Thursday, July 6) too.

On both days, the additional cancellations were only announced after the morning rush hour had concluded, meaning commuters may have travelled to find that their return journeys were severely disrupted.

The issues will particularly disrupt the travel plans of anybody who has commuted into London from stations between Arlesey and Peterborough. After 5pm today, there is only a single train still scheduled to stop at Arlesey from Finsbury Park, leaving the London station at 8.53pm.

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Thameslink say that the issue is caused by the "availability of train crew between Hitchin and Peterborough".

Some passengers have taken to social media to question why Thameslink has not switched staff from services travelling between London and Cambridge onto the affected route.

The ASLEF union has implemented a nationwide ban on working overtime this week, between Monday, July 3 and Saturday, July 8.