THOUSANDS of travellers were left stranded on railway platforms yesterday as police responded to a man threatening to throw himself from a bridge in New Milton.

Officers from the British Transport Police (BTP) and Hampshire Police were called to the scene - a bridge over the railway line at New Milton Station - at 11.40am.

Specialist negotiators were summoned but the incident was not resolved until 5pm. BTP tweeted “The incident at #NewMilton has now come to a conclusion...thank you to everyone for their patience” but refused to provide further information.

South Central Ambulance Service said its services were not required.

At 4pm South West Trains announced it would cancel all services between Bournemouth and Southampton for the rest of the day, but with the incident resolved the lines were reopened at 6pm.

Large queues formed outside Bournemouth station during the afternoon with rail staff directing travellers into taxis to take them on to Southampton and the airport.

Trains from the east initially continued running through to Brockenhurst but from 3pm all terminated at Southampton.

Among those caught up there was Bournemouth businessman Stephen Bath, returning from a conference in Israel.

He said: “There were hundreds of people outside Southampton station.

“I’m sorry for the bloke in question but you can’t have one person disrupting the lives of 50,000 people like this.”

Some passengers who spoke with the Daily Echo at Bournemouth expressed frustration with the lack of replacement bus services.

Chris and Judy Warran were travelling to London from their home in Weymouth.

“It is very frustrating, you would think they would have a contingency plan and get some coaches here,” said Mr Warran.

Anita Jones and her sister were travelling from Poole to Southampton.

“We have been waiting over an hour, it is frustrating, she said.

“We are supposed to be seeing Rod Stewart at the Ageas Bowl.”

Emily Harrison, 24, was travelling from Bournemouth to London to visit friends for the weekend.

“When I joined the queue it was doubling back on itself and I thought it would take hours, fortunately it has moved quite quickly,” she said.

“I’m lucky that I don’t have to worry about missing a connecting train or rushing to get somewhere by a certain time, but for other people this must be a nightmare.”

Sue George and Pam Stevenson were heading home to the Midlands after a holiday in Weymouth.

“We were just saying we don’t think it has been very well organised,” said Ms George.

“The circumstances are horrible though.”

A train manager, who had made her way to Bournemouth by taxi said there was “absolute chaos” at Southampton.

“They are not putting people in taxis at Southampton, it’s just a free-for-all,” she said.

South West Trains said yesterday: “It is expected that trains will continue to be disrupted until the end of service.

“South West Trains will be accepting today’s tickets on tomorrow’s services.”

The firm said passengers may be entitled to compensation.

AMONG passengers affected by the delays were some 200 students at Brockenhurst College who were travelling to sit their exams.

The college put out messages on social media reassuring students that they would be able to sit their exams when they arrived, and set up a minibus service to ferry them from railway stations to the premises.

A spokesman for the college said: “We sent out two minibuses to collect the students who were stranded at various train stations.

“We were able to get everyone to the college and gave them a chance to calm down before they started their exams.

“Staff and teachers are staying late to make sure every student gets the allotted time to complete their exam.

“It’s been a huge team effort.

“The college is applying to the exam board for special consideration.”

For the first part of the afternoon students could make their way to Brokenhurst Station, where a large number of passengers were stranded.