COMMUTERS returning to work on Monday morning faced delays on both the railway and roads.

Basingstoke's rail service was affected after a 100-tonne crane crashed onto the track near Clapham Junction on Sunday morning, during routine engineering work.

Two tracks had to be closed and South West Trains was forced to run a reduced service on Monday and Tuesday.

The accident meant the scheduled work was not finished on time, so commuters were hit by delays as Network Rail tried to complete the project and sort out the problems caused by the crane.

Trains travelling from the west of England to London Waterloo terminated at Basingstoke, with services further along the line being replaced by a shuttle bus.

Trains are expected to be back to normal by tomorrow.

Simone Spinks, press and PR officer for South West Trains, said the company was at the mercy of Network Rail, but predicted the delays would not last more than one day.

She said: "It's not a nice welcome back for our customers after Christmas and we would like to apologise to them." Rail passengers were not the only commuters to face long delays on their return to work after the festive break.

One lane of the northbound M3 was closed shortly before 7am after a two-car collision which happened between junction eight at Popham and junction seven at Dummer.

The accident, involving a blue Mercedes C180 and a red Peugeot 206, left one of the drivers - a 57-year-old man - with head injuries. The outside lane was reopened at 8.45am.