MAJOR delays at stations gave commuters headaches this morning.

Passengers reported huge queues at Basildon and Benfleet train stations during their rush hour commute.

Liam Hooper, told the Echo that he had been told he could work from home, as the queues at Basildon were so long.

Passengers at Benfleet station reported that the queue "was the longest I've seen" and that several heated exchanges between staff and passengers took place.

Commuters at Basildon station tweeted that only one ticket window was open from 6:30am.

A spokesperson from C2C, said: "Both stations were down one member of ticket office staff this morning, and we were unable to find cover at short notice. This meant there were fewer people selling tickets than normal, and we're sorry this resulted in queues.

"If customers want to beat the queues, they can buy their ticket online in advance and collect it at the station.

"If they travel using our c2c Smartcard, they can download the ticket direct from the barriers meaning they won't need to queue to collect their ticket."