A stretch of the Central Line remains suspended this morning after cable was stolen overnight.

The clockwise stretch between Woodford and Hainault, which includes Roding Valley, Chigwell and Grange Hill stations, was suspended early this morning when the theft was discovered.

The vandalism has been reported to the British Transport Police (BTP) and Transport for London (TfL) engineers are working to restore normal service.

Nigel Holness, London Underground operations director, said: “The Mayor and TfL have lobbied government long and hard to tackle metal theft, and we are pleased that the government has listened to our calls to make scrap metal dealing a cashless process and increase the punishment for thieves, and that legislation will be introduced shortly.

“However, we will continue to push for even stronger action to be taken, including ensuring that anyone selling scrap metal must present identification or not be allowed to sell.”

He added; “TfL works closely with the BTP to deter cable theft from the Tube and DLR networks, with resources to tackle the problem concentrated significantly in the last year.

“Covert operations, community lead intelligence and the use of CCTV are all used to disrupt and investigate cable theft incidents.”

It is not known at this stage exactly where on the line the cable was stolen from.