A faulty fire alarm shut Walthamstow Central station during the morning rush hour, leaving hundreds of commuters waiting outside.
The Victoria Line was suspended between Blackhorse Road and Walthamstow Central after the alarm was sounded at 8.43am.
Transport for London said the closure lasted around 20 minutes, with services back to normal by 9.10am
Commuters tweeted photos of huge crowds waiting to get into the station.
Adam Finzel wrote: “@tfl quick hint. If you are holding 200 people outside Walthamstow station stop saying there is good service. This isn't what I call good.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">.<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/TfL" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3175951-https://twitter.com/TfL" data-vars-event-id="c23">@TfL</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/stellacreasy" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3175951-https://twitter.com/stellacreasy" data-vars-event-id="c23">@stellacreasy</a> had months of station mismanagement at Walthamstow. This morning was the worst yet.30 min delay. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/pvUMMGWQlm" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3175951-https://t.co/pvUMMGWQlm" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/pvUMMGWQlm</a> — Kathryn Booth (@kathrynbooth23) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/kathrynbooth23/status/696981449703104512" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3175951-https://twitter.com/kathrynbooth23/status/696981449703104512" data-vars-event-id="c23">February 9, 2016</a>
Other passengers described the crowds waiting outside the station as "utter carnage".
Twitter user @NamelusWonder wrote: "Victoria line trains from Walthamstow Central which loads of people use are cancelled because of a faulty fire alarm no-one uses."
