The Central Line is now fully reopened after vandals forced the section between Woodford and Hainault to be suspended.

Cable from the line was found to have been stolen early this morning, and a clockwise stretch of the line was closed.

Access to Roding Valley, Chigwell and Grange Hill stations was also affected.

The section of line was reopened at around 1.30pm this afternoon and the line is now running a good service, Transport for London (TfL) has said.

The vandalism has been reported to the British Transport Police.

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.”