Balham’s overground station was evacuated this morning after a woman threatened to blow herself up on a train.

The woman was travelling on the 8.50am service from Victoria to Epsom when she started making the threats as the train reached Balham at around 9.05am.

Tooting resident Andy Ives, one of the commuters delayed by the incident, said: "I was on the platform around 9am when we were told to evacuate the station but we weren't told why. For about 10-15 minutes people were crowding round the station entrance when the police told us all to move away as sniffer dogs were being taken in.

"We saw a woman being led away by police, then at about 9.30am they let us back into the station."

A British Transport Police spokeswoman confirmed that a 45-year-old woman was being detained under the Mental Health Act.