Commuters travelling in South-West London experienced delays Monday morning after passengers on a train forced open the doors and ran onto the tracks to escape a man with a bible.

The incident took place near Wimbledon station, as a passenger on a packed commuter train started reading lines from the bible. Another passenger asked the man to stop because he was “scaring” others, but it was already too late and panic had set in.

An eyewitness to the incident told The Guardian newspaper the “well-spoken and calm” preacher started reading from the old testament and told the carriage: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to talk to you about something and that something is the word of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He’s here to heal your sins. The Bible tells you that homosexuality is a sin and sex before marriage is a sin. You need to repent.”

Fellow commuters in their panic prised open the train doors and climbed down onto the track to escape the man, forcing the rail operator to turn off power to the area to prevent anyone being electrocuted. The power isolation ultimately delayed hundreds of thousands of commuters, according to reports.

The Bible reading man was questioned by police after the train reached the station but was found to be carrying only books and water, and was not arrested.