THERE were chaotic scenes at Worcester Foregate Street when hundreds of commuters struggled to board two carriages during the peak-time rush yesterday.

The scramble to board the train resulted in a schoolgirl being knocked over in the crush.

The build-up of passengers happened after the 17.15 from Worcester Foregate Street to Dorridge was delayed because of a signal failure.

Bad-tempered commuters then tried to board the 17.24 to Whitlock's End which was already busy.

Commuter Steve Carley videoed the chaos.

He said: "Due to the delay of the 17.15 to Dorridge, everyone tried to pile on to the 17.24 to Whitlock's End, which only has two carriages and is always full when it arrives.

"People were pushing and swearing.

"I went down to the ticket office and there was a schoolgirl there who said she had been knocked over and had missed her train.

"I showed the clip to the ticket attendant in the concourse and she was shocked, she had no idea that was happening on the platform."

Mr Carley said he estimated there was around 200 people trying to board the train.

He said: "There wasn't enough room to get on the platform so people were on the stairs.

"An announcement kept coming over saying let people off the train before you board but that was being ignored.

"It's an example of what can happen when you get a mix of a delay and not enough carriages.

"You expect a busy train to be busy but it seems there aren't enough carriages on the trains at busy times."

A spokesman for London Midland, which runs the station, said: "There was a signal failure which caused problems on the Snow Hill line.

"We had to reschedule the service.

"We are really sorry. It was a points failure that we could not control.

"We are sorry if people were inconvenienced.

"We do as much as we can to move as many people as we can in peak times.

"We have every available carriage out on the network as we can.

"We have the maximum carriages on trains that we expect to be the busiest.

"If that service is disrupted those trains are in the wrong place at that time."

He added anyone who was delayed for more than half an hour could claim compensation and should visit londonmidland.com to find out more.