Station bosses at London Bridge were forced to shut the gates because of severe overcrowding on Tuesday morning.
Furious commuters described scenes at the busy interchange as “torturous” and “a dangerous shambles”.
Southeastern services to south London and Kent were delayed after someone was taken ill on a train, pumping more commuters into the already crowded Tube network on the first day of the DLR strike.
Delays lasted until about 10.30am.
A Transport for London spokeswoman confirmed the station gates were closing intermittently to limit the number of commuters, but denied reports the entire Underground station was closed – something claimed on Twitter by both Southeastern and the official London Bridge Station account.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Safety first and a top quality customer experience at London Bridge this morning! (Read: dangerous shambles.) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/TfL" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3105326-https://twitter.com/TfL" data-vars-event-id="c23">@TfL</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/7l4TVF8f7n" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3105326-https://t.co/7l4TVF8f7n" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/7l4TVF8f7n</a> — Jonny Hooper (@jonnyhooper86) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/jonnyhooper86/status/661468779130560512" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3105326-https://twitter.com/jonnyhooper86/status/661468779130560512" data-vars-event-id="c23">November 3, 2015</a>
Passengers took to Twitter to post pictures of the enormous crowds.
Fiona Moorhead (@MoorheadFiona) tweeted: “London Bridge station and tube in total meltdown, avoid if you can!”
FunkyDel (@FunkyDel) added: “London Bridge and Canada Water a nightmare due to crowds from DLR strikes. Avoid like the plague!”
Meanwhile Joshua Preston (@jpfpreston) described the scene as “absolutely torturous”.
And Sulk Hogan (@AlexLowy) claimed: “People collapsing at London Bridge, station overcrowding. London is simply unable to cope when a single line goes down.”
