Network Rail has apologised to Sevenoaks families who had their Sunday morning peace disturbed by a gas scare.

Contractors working for the company on “vegetation management” managed to puncture a gas main near the railway station at 10.30am, causing a major alert.

British Transport Police and Kent Fire and Rescue Service personnel imposed a 200-metre exclusion zone around the leak, which meant several homes and businesses had to be evacuated.

The A224 London Road was closed to traffic in both directions between the B2020 St Botolph's Road and Braeside Avenue.

British Gas engineers were called to the scene to make the pipe safe and the exclusion zone was lifted two hours later and the roads re-opened.

No train services were affected, because services had already been diverted away from the station to facilitate the maintenance work, with a replacement bus service in place.

Network Rail spokesman Chris Denham said: “An investigation is under way to establish how this happened. In the meantime we sincerely apologise to everyone who was affected.”