Commuters in north Kent and south east London are facing problems next week as Southeastern lines face closures due to engineering works, prompting calls for employees to work from home where possible.

From Saturday August 26 to Saturday September 2, there will be no Southeastern services at London Bridge, Charing Cross and Waterloo East

This means that commuters using Cannon Street face rush-hour queue systems just to get into the station - expected to hold passengers up by 30 minutes.

Rail chiefs are urging people not to travel during rush hour through the station if possible or even to work from home.

It follows a long weekend when no Southeastern services will operate to or from London Bridge, Waterloo East or Charing Cross.

There will also be no trains at Cannon Street on Saturday and Sunday or at Blackfriars on Monday August 28 and Saturday September 2.

Network Rail will use this time to move the Charing Cross lines through London Bridge into a new position and open newly rebuilt platform 6, which will mean that more Charing Cross trains can stop at London Bridge.

Throughout the eight day period, there will be fewer Southeastern trains running to and from London. Those that do run will be much busier than usual and diverted to other London stations, including Victoria, Blackfriars, Cannon Street and Waterloo.

During the four working days that are affected by this work, August 29 to September 1, Cannon Street in particular will be exceptionally busy as more passengers will be using the station than usual.

Ellie Burrows, train services director, Southeastern, said: “We know it’s a challenging time for our passengers while the work takes place and journeys may take longer than usual.

"We are advising passengers to look in advance at the amended timetable and think about changing their journey or working from home if at all possible. If passengers are travelling from Cannon Street in the evening peak they should check our website for live information or follow us on Twitter @se_railway”.