A bolt of lightning struck a house as a series of violent storms left thousands of commuters with chaotic journeys to work.

Fire crews were called to the house in Highdown Close, Angmering, early yesterday morning after residents were woken by the sound of thunder and breaking glass. The owners are believed to be on holiday.

A neighbour said: "It was about 6.40am and there was this huge crash and a really big flash.

"A bolt of lightning had hit the corner of one of the houses and blown a big hole in the roof and smashed all the glass in the conservatory at the back.

"It was pouring with rain and we had really heavy storms all night. I could hear the thunder first thing this morning at about 5am."

A West Sussex Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said crews had been called to several false alarms activated by the thunder.

Trains were cancelled and others delayed for up to an hour when two lightning strikes, near Lancing and the Balcombe tunnel near Haywards Heath, sent signalling and electronics haywire.

Both strikes caused power surges which put nearby signalling boxes out of action.

The first incident, near Lancing, happened at about 6.30am and led to the line between Littlehampton and Brighton being closed for more than an hour.

London-bound trains coming in from Hampshire and Chichester, were diverted via Horsham along the Arun Valley line and buses were brought in to transfer passengers between stations to and from Brighton, Worthing and Littlehampton.

The second incident, about 7am near Bognor, closed the Brighton mainline to London for half an hour, which caused major delays.

A similar incident near the track at Earlswood in Surrey led to another half-hour closure and more disruption.

Andy Parham, 34, from Charmandean Road, Worthing, works for a communications company near Victoria Station in London and regularly commutes from Worthing.

He said: "It caused a lot of delays and I was almost two hours late for work but there was nothing that could be done.

"When I finally got on a train it was packed and kept stopping and starting and going slowly most of the way.

"People were fed up but these things happen. It's the journey home I'm worried abut now."

A spokeswoman for Southern trains said: "We were able to get the signalling problems sorted out but it obviously had a knock-on effect and there have been delays."

Delays continued during the day as normal service gradually resumed.