Transport bosses were forced to terminate a service after discovering someone had defecated in one of its trains.

The Tyne and Wear transport network apologised to customers online for the disruption yesterday.

The incident was revealed after one passenger complained on Twitter about delays and termination of a service on the line.

The faeces was discovered on the train just after 5pm on Saturday at South Hylton station, an operator spokesman said.

A driver closed off the affected carriage before taking the train to South Gosforth station where it was taken out of service.

In a tweet the operator apologised for the disruption. It read: "Sorry, the train has been travelling up from Sunderland with only the rear car in operation as someone has defecated on the train and has covered 3 seats with faeces.

"The train has to go into the depot to be cleaned up. Sorry for the inconvenience."