Commuters have spoken of the “horrible” disruption after the Metropolitan Line was shut without warning at the weekend due to the so-called ‘Pingdemic’. 

Transport for London (TfL) announced on Saturday (July 17)  trains would be halted along the line due to staff shortages after a host of control room workers were told to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 app. 

TfL have since confirmed that 300 staff are self isolating.

At Harrow-on-the-Hill Station, passengers were turfed out on the morning of July 17 and forced to find alternative routes while services were suspended for the day. 

Daniel Gueizelar, 33, said the situation meant he was an hour late for his work at a bookmaker in Wembley. 

He said: “It was horrible – we were suddenly told that the trains from Harrow weren’t running anymore.

“I went to Harrow and Wealdstone but the services there were also s***. I couldn’t get a bus as they were all full so I had to get a cab to Wembley Park.”

The disruption also hit nearby businesses who rely on passing trade – Sam Hough and Bobby Bill from Premier Fruits, based at Harrow-on-the-Hill’s entrance said they “may as well have shut for the day”. 

Bobby explained: “All of our business comes from people getting in and out of London so without the trains, we were hit big time. 

“No one seemed to know what was going on – everyone just clumped out together saying things had stopped.”

While it appears the issues at the weekend were caused by a specific incident, others have argued there are often issues with staffing along the Metropolitan line. 

Peter Ahluwalia, 65, who lives in Harrow-on-the-Hill, said the station is “always short staffed”, something which is a particular problem given the number of connections it has.

He suggested Saturday’s suspension could be linked to the recent Euro 2020 matches at Wembley Stadium, with thousands of people making use of the trains serving Harrow.

Harrow councillor Susan Hall, said she is always pushing for improvements to the Metropolitan line’s service and  “wasn’t surprised” to see what happened at the weekend. 

She said: “It’s a massive issue and I’ve told TfL and the Mayor of London that it’s not good enough.

“There’s always problems with the signalling and there’s never enough people – if we want to get things back to normal we have to get people back on the trains.”

Services on the Piccadilly line and the District line were also affected by the surge in self-isolations. 

Richard Jones, London Underground’s head of network operations, said on Saturday: “Due to a shortage of control room staff who are having to self-isolate following notifications this morning via the Test and Trace app, there will be no service on the Metropolitan Line for the rest of the day. 

“We apologise to customers for the disruption. London Underground tickets will be accepted on local bus services.”

There were also delays on the Met Line today (Monday, July 19) due to train cancellations. 

Staff at Harrow-on-the-Hill station said they could not comment on the disruption over the past few days.